Doncaster Racecourse its present location and in 1776 Colonel Anthony St. Leger founded a race in which five horses ran. This race has remained in existence and become the world's oldest classic horse race. During the first world war the racecourse was used for military purposes and substitute races were run at Newmarket from 1915 to 1918. Doncaster has the distinction of both starting and ending the flat season on turf. Every September, Doncaster hosts the prestigious four-day William Hill St. Leger Festival, which is acclaimed as the premier sporting occasion of the Autumn calendar. Doncaster has also taken over events whose
American St. Leger Stakes American St. Leger Stakes The American St. Leger Stakes is a Grade 3 flat horse race in the United States for thoroughbreds three-year-old and older. It is run over a distance of . Held annually in mid August, it is held on the same racecard as the Arlington Million, Beverly D. Stakes and Secretariat Stakes and on the same turf course at Arlington Park, Arlington Heights, Illinois. The race was upgraded to Grade 3 status in 2015. It was dropped from Arlington Park's calendar in 2018 with no immediate indication of whether it would be returning in any future year.