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
St. Leger family St. Leger family The St. Leger family ( ; Latinized to "De Sancto Leodegario") is an old Anglo-Irish family with Norman roots, that in some cases transformed into Selinger or Sellinger. It is first recorded in England as lord of the manor of Ulcombe in Kent. John St. Leger (died 1441) of Ulcombe was Sheriff of Kent in 1430. The surname of St. Leger is recorded in several forms. This surname is originally toponymic in origin, indicating that the individual was from a location that had been dedicated to St. Leger. The name ultimately derives from the pre-7th-century Old German