Editing St Leger Stakes (section)

===Early years===
The event was devised by [[Anthony St Leger (British Army officer)|Anthony St Leger]], an army officer and politician who lived near Doncaster. It was initially referred to as "A Sweepstake of 25 Guineas", and its original distance was two miles. The rules stipulated that colts and geldings were to carry 8&nbsp;st, and fillies would receive an allowance of 2&nbsp;lb.

The inaugural running was held at Cantley Common on 24 September 1776. The first winner was an unnamed filly owned by the event's organiser, the [[Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham|2nd Marquess of Rockingham]]. The filly was later named [[Allabaculia]].

The title St Leger Stakes was decided at a dinner party held in 1778 at the Red Lion Inn located in the Market Place, Doncaster, to discuss the coming year's race. It was suggested that it should be called the Rockingham Stakes in honour of the host, the Marquess of Rockingham, but the Marquess proposed that it should be named instead after Anthony St Leger.{{sfn|Cawthorne|Herod|1902|p=10-11}} That year the event was moved to its present location, Town Moor, in 1778.<ref>{{cite web | title = Race Courses of Great Britain and Ireland | publisher = tbheritage.com | url = http://www.tbheritage.com/TurfHallmarks/Gazeteer/GazeteerYorks.html | access-date = 17 September 2009}}</ref>

The race came to national prominence in 1800, when a horse called [[Champion (horse)|Champion]] registered the first Derby–St Leger double. Its length was cut to 1&nbsp;mile, 6&nbsp;furlongs and 193&nbsp;yards in 1813, and despite some minor alterations has remained much the same ever since. The victory of [[West Australian (horse)|West Australian]] in 1853 completed the first success in the Triple Crown.