St. Leger family of Lt. Col. (later Major-General) Anthony St. Leger, and ran for the first time over a two-mile course on Cantley Common in Doncaster. The classic race, The St. Leger, has been run at Doncaster ever since. Most St. Legers in the UK today descend from Sir Anthony St. Leger, KG of Ulcombe, Kent. The Viscounts Doneraile, whose seat was at Doneraile, Co. Cork, in Ireland, descend from Sir Anthony's first son, William, and the Heywards Hill branch of the family, also originally of Co. Cork, descend from his second son, Warham. (The account given in the "Peerage of Ireland" by
Irish St. Leger 1915, and it was originally restricted to three-year-olds. The first horse to win both the English and Irish St Legers was Royal Lancer in 1922. The first Irish St. Leger winner to complete a Triple Crown (having previously won the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the Irish Derby) was Museum in 1935. The only subsequent horse to win all three races was Windsor Slipper in 1942. The Irish St Leger became an open-age race in 1983, and there have been several repeat winners since then. The most successful has been Vinnie Roe, with four consecutive victories from 2001 to 2004. The