Derby winners High-Rise and Dream Well were revealed yesterday as surprise entries for the Pertemps St Leger. Neither colt had been thought likely to bid for the season's final Classic, due to be run at Doncaster on September 12th.
Luca Cumani is aiming Epsom winner High-Rise at the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and has all but ruled out a step up to a mile and three-quarters for the colt.
And yesterday the Newmarket handler confirmed HighRise's St Leger entry had been made merely as a precaution. "At the moment it isn't the plan," he said. "But the horse is a Group One horse, so he gets entered in Group One races."
No Derby winner has contested the St Leger since Reference Point in 1987.
Pascal Bary has pencilled in the Prix Niel and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe as targets for Dream Well who last Sunday added victory in the Budweiser Irish Derby to success in the Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby).
More likely runners at Doncaster among the 54 entries announced yesterday include City Honours and Border Arrow, second and third respectively at Epsom.
Also put in the £320,000 race are Italian Derby winner Central Park plus Vodafone Oaks first and second Shahtoush and Bahr, who are due to clash again in the Irish Oaks a week on Sunday.
Doncaster clerk of the course John Sanderson commented: "We are thrilled that this year's Pertemps St Leger has attracted such a strong entry that includes three different Derby winners, an Oaks winner and virtually all of the other top staying three-year-old colts and fillies in Europe."
