St. Leger family historical importance was Gen. Anthony St. Leger. He was born in 1731, probably in Kildare, Ireland. He was one of a group of noblemen and gentlemen who in 1778 gathered for a private dinner party in an upper room of the Red Lion Inn, which stands in the market square in Doncaster. A horse race, which was to set the pattern for classic racing throughout the world, had been christened the St. Leger at the suggestion of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham. The race, a sweepstake for three-year-olds, had been born two years earlier in 1776, at the suggestion
Charles the Twelfth at Aintree Racecourse. He was assigned a weight of six stones and six pounds in the Liverpool Tradesmen's Cup, an all-aged handicap race over two miles and started at odds of 5/1 in a field of sixteen runners. Ridden by a lightweight jockey named Francis, Charles the Twelfth disputed the lead with the five-year-old St Bennett before pulling clear in the closing stages to win easily. The "New Sporting Magazine" described the performance as a "true St Leger running". On 17 September Charles the Twelfth was one of fourteen runners (from an original entry of 107) to contest the St