Yeats and Scorpion - courtesy of the RacingPost

Sunday was a day for horses with courage. At Doncaster Mahler fought hard to hold his place at the head of affairs in the St Leger, sticking his neck out as far as he could, and had he not stumbled he may have won. Stablemate Honolulu was flying at the finish but neither of them could repel John Gosden’s giant of a horse, Lucarno. Lucarno gave Gosden his first St Leger, and rider Jimmy Fortune his first classic.

Meanwhile in Ireland Yeats secured his and his trainers first ********** St Leger but stablemate Scorpion did not go down without a brave fight. Yeats showed just how classy he is, and how determined he and his jockey are.

You had to feel sorry for Scorpion who gave his all. But the St. Leger win came after Yeats was beaten in his two previous attempts and perhaps the 5 year old Scorpion will be back next year to win his.

Kieren Fallon held Yeats in mid-division as Scorpion, under Seamus Heffernan, held a comfortable lead throughout much of the race. Two furlongs out, Scorpion seemed to find another gear and spurted three lengths clear of the field.

Fallon had Yeats under a stiff drive and at first didn’t appear to make any headway on the leader. Fallon kept after his charge, and Yeats dug in and gradually wore down Scorpion to win by a half-length.