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
Anthony St Leger (Master of the Rolls) Frances. Their son was knighted in 1627, and died in 1661. After Mary's death in 1603 he married Aphra Wotton, who outlived him by many years. Anthony St Leger (Master of the Rolls) Sir Anthony St Leger (the younger) (c.1535-1613) was an English-born judge in Ireland who held the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland. There is some confusion about his parentage. It is often said that he was the third son of Sir Anthony St Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland, and his wife Agnes Warham. However, both Burke's Peerage, and Francis Elrington Ball in his definitive study