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 St Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile St Leger St Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile St Leger St Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile (born St Leger Aldworth; died 15 May 1787), was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer. He was the son of Richard Aldworth and the Hon. Elizabeth St Leger. Through his mother, he was a grandson of Arthur St Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile. He was given the name of St Leger Aldworth at birth, but he legally changed his surname to St Leger on 9 May 1767, when he succeeded to the Doneraile estates upon the death of his uncle, Hayes St Leger, 4th Viscount Doneraile (1702–1767). Like