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
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