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St Leger betting tip good value at 7/1

By Bernie | September 7, 2009

Our St Leger betting tip is a 7/1 chance that can take on an uneasy favourite in this year’s renewal of the oldest Classic in the racing calendar, which will be run at Doncaster this Saturday, 12th September.

Godolphin’s Kite Wood heads the betting at odds of between 2/1 and 5/2 but is on the drift. And, given some poor performances in big races so far this season, punters are right to shun Frankie Dettori’s mount.

The Italian won last year on board Conduit – as tipped here at A Cunning Punt – and Kite Wood looks like a stayer. But I’m not convinced he’ll have the pace to beat one or two in this field.

Aidan O’Brien saddles his usual armada of runners, and will be hoping Age Of Aquarius can give him some reward from an unusually lean Classic season. At 11/4 it looks better value than the Godolphin runner.

But the real value could be in a late entrant. Peter Chapple-Hyam’s Monitor Closely threw up a shock in the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York in August when it destroyed the field – which included the St Leger favourite of the time, Harbinger – in winning by four-and-a-half lengths.

Monitor Closely has already beaten Kite Wood once this year over ten furlongs in the Dante Stakes. The positions were reversed when the two met as two-year-olds when Kite Wood got its maiden (and before he joined Godolphin). But I think the horse can improve on the Dante positions when they go head-to-head over 14 furlongs, and while I wouldn’t rule out the O’Brien yard, the 7/1 available at William Hilllooks well worth getting on each-way in this year’s St Leger.

St Leger betting tip