LOOKING FORWARD TO A CLASSIC

William Derby, Chief Executive and Clerk of the Course at York, reported:
"We enjoyed a nice day today with the weather and the forecast is good for tomorrow.

"The ground was just on the easy side of good today."

CROWD

Today's crowd came to 17,265.

William Derby said: "I am delighted with how the day has gone.

"We had some great racing today. It was wonderful to see that grand horse Sergeant Cecil win again at York and it was also pleasing to see Wi Dud collect the Persimmon Homes Flying Childers Stakes, as his owners and trainer Kevin Ryan are great supporters of racing at York and Doncaster.
Celtic Mill also gave us a popular local winner in the A1 Medical & General Scarbrough Stakes."

BEST DRESSED LADY

Rachel Wallsworth, who hails from Liversidge near Leeds, was the lucky winner of the Best Dressed Lady Racegoer competition.

Rachel wins a three-night short-break holiday to Dubai in November, staying at the Mariott Courtyard Hotel. She also wins a voucher from leading fashion retailer, Planet.

Tomorrow, Rachel will return to the Knavesmire to take part in the all Yorkshire Best Dressed Lady Racegoer competition, which brings together the best dressed ladies from all of Yorkshire's racecourses this season.


LADBROKES ST LEGER DOZEN

A dozen horses go to post in the world's oldest Classic, the £475,000 Ladbrokes St Leger, which takes place at 3.45pm tomorrow.

Heading the ante-post market with the sponsors is Sixties Icon, trained in Newmarket by Jeremy Noseda and due to be ridden by Frankie Dettori. Noseda is seeking a first English Classic success, while Dettori is in line for a fourth Ladbrokes St Leger vcitory following Classic Cliche (1995), Shantou
(1996) and Scorpion (2005).

Sixties Icon won a Windsor maiden before running a fine race to finish seventh behind Sir Percy in the Vodafone Derby at Epsom. He was then third in the Group Two King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot and completed his Ladbrokes St Leger preparation by taking the Group Three BGC (Gordon
Stakes) as Glorious Goodwood on August 1.

The main rival to Sixties Icon would appear to be Red Rocks, trained by Brian Meehan and the mount of Richard Hughes. A Listed winner at Newmarket in May, Red Rocks has run some fine races in defeat subsequently, finishing second in the Group Two King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, second in the Group One Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp and second in the premier Ladbrokes St Leger trial, the Ladbrokes Great Voltigeur Stakes at York on August 22, when he went down by a head to Youmzain.

The Ladbrokes Great Voltigeur Stakes at York has provided the winner of the Ladbrokes St Leger no less than 10 times since 1986. Red Rocks will be attempting to follow in the footsteps of Brian Boru (2003), Bollin Eric (2002), Mutafaweq (1999), Silver Patriarch (1997), Snurge (1990) and Moon Madness (1986), who were all placed in the Ladbrokes Great Voltigeur Stakes before their Classic success.

Aidan O'Brien has won the world's oldest Classic three times in the last five years with Milan (2001), Brian Boru (2003) and Scorpion (2005). The master of Ballydoyle has the highest number of runners this year and his quartet consists of Tusculum, an impressive winner of the Listed Ballycullen Stakes at the Curragh on August 26, Irish Derby sixth Mountain, Puerto Rico, who finished third in the Ladbrokes Great Voltigeur Stakes, and Fire And Rain, who was sixth in the same race.

The Ladbrokes St Leger was Lester Piggott's second most successful Classic after the Derby with the "Long Fellow" riding eight winners of the final Classic. This year Piggott is represented as an owner by the filly Mont Etoile, owned in partnership with Des Scott and Tony Hirschfield and trained by his son in law, William Haggas. Mont Etoile was triumphant in the Group Two Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot before finishing fourth in the Irish Oaks at the Curragh.

Completing the field are Galient, runner-up in the Group Three Queen's Vase at Royal Ascot, The Last Drop, bidding to provide his locally-based owner Jack Hanson with a memorable success on the Knavesmire and fourth in the Ladbrokes Great Voltigeur Stakes, Ask, trained by Sir Michael Stoute who has saddled the runner-up in the Ladbrokes St Leger on five occasions, and Championship Point, successful in the Listed Predominate Stakes at Goodwood back in May but subsequently disappointing in the Derby and Ladbrokes Great Voltigeur Stakes.

THE LADBROKES ST LEGER

Class 1, Group 1, £475,000 Total Prize Fund. York, 3.45pm, Saturday, September 9, 2006. For 3yo only, entire colts & fillies. One mile, five furlongs and 197 yards. Weights: colts 9st; fillies 8st 11lb. Entries closed July 5, entries revealed July 10 (52 entries), forfeit stage August
24 (21 remained), £25,000 supplementary entry stage September 4 (0 extra entries received), five-day confirmation stage September 4 (12 remain), final declaration stage, 10.00am, September 7. Form figures supplied by Weatherbys and are correct up to and including the racing of Thursday, September 7, 2006.

Form Horse Age/Wgt Owner Trainer/Jockey/Latest Ladbrokes odds

1) (1) 32102 ASK 3-9-00 (The Duke of Devonshire & Sue Magnier) Sir Michael Stoute/Robert Winston 20/1
2) (10) 112-100 CHAMPIONSHIP POINT (IRE) 3-9-00 (John Livock Bloodstock Limited( Mick Channon/Tony Culhane 25/1
3) (2) 1-6 FIRE AND RAIN (FR) 3-9-00 Michael Tabor & Sue Magnier Aidan O'Brien IRE/Colm O'Donoghue 12/1
4) (3) 0-1125 GALIENT (IRE) 3-9-00 (Mr & Mrs Kevan Watts) Michael
Jarvis/Philip Robinson 33/1
5) (6) 021-5221 JADALEE (IRE) 3-9-00 (Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum) Marcus Tregoning/Martin Dwyer 8/1
6) (9) 14-42060 MOUNTAIN (IRE) 3-9-00 (Derrick Smith, Sue Magnier, Michael
Tabor) Aidan O'Brien IRE/Kevin Darley 16/1
7) (8) 1-31003 PUERTO RICO (IRE) 3-9-00 (Sue Magnier) Aidan O'Brien IRE/Darryll Holland 33/1
8) (7) 032-11222 RED ROCKS (IRE) 3-9-00 (Paul Reddam) Brian Meehan/Richard Hughes 4/1
9) (11) 61031 SIXTIES ICON 3-9-00 (Susan Roy) Jeremy Noseda/Frankie Dettori 11/10
10) (5) 5-12504 THE LAST DROP (IRE) 3-9-00 (Jack Hanson, Cavendish InvLtd, Sandy Patrick) Barry Hills/Richard Hills 66/1
11) (12) 31-41 TUSCULUM (IRE) 3-9-00 (Karin Baronin Von Ullmann & Sue
Magnier) Aidan O'Brien IRE/Seamus Heffernan 8/1
12) (4) 46(5)-1214 MONT ETOILE (IRE) 3-9-00 (Tony Hirschfeld, Des Scott.
Lester Piggott) William Haggas/Michael Hills 33/1

12 declarations
4 Irish-trained