Established in 1776, and run over 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 132 yards, the Ladbrokes-sponsored St. Leger at Doncaster is the oldest of Britain's five Classic races. This year's renewal is set for Saturday, September 10, and at the time of writing, 11 stoutly-bred three-year-olds – eight colts and three fillies – are set to clash in the £500,000 added event.

Joint highest-rated on the official ratings are Godolphin's Blue Bunting (by Dynaformer) and Ballydoyle's Seville (by Galileo). The first-named has been in rousing form with victories in the Darley Irish Oaks and Darley Yorkshire Oaks at her last two starts – in fact, the only blot on her copybook this year was a sub-par effort in the Investec Oaks back in June. Five-time winner of this race, Frankie Dettori will do duty (as usual) on the Mahmood Al Zarooni-trained grey, who is quoted at 4-1. Apart from her obvious credentials, she also enjoys a three pound weight advantage by virtue of being a filly. In addition, at a cost of £45,000 (Rs 33 lakh), her owners have supplemented Rumh (by Monsun), who will run as a pacemaker to ensure a true test of stamina. "Obviously, her sex allowance will be incredibly important and hopefully will give her every chance of beating the colts," Godolphin's racing manager Simon Crisford said, when speaking about Blue Bunting, adding, "She is super tough and very resolute - she gives everything she has though she wins her races by a narrow margin."

Seville on the other hand has been very much of a "what-might-have-been" performer. Runner-up efforts in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud have been the best he has had to offer in 2011, while his most recent outing saw him finishing more than 10 lengths adrift in the Great Voltigeur Stakes at Goodwood. Despite Aidan O'Brien's banner season, and the suggestions that the colt was underdone in his prep run, Seville looks to have it all to do and others have greater appeal. The bookmaking fraternity concur and 8-1 is readily available.

That brings us to Seville's conqueror – and current race favourite at 11-8 – Juddmonte's Sea Moon (by Beat Hollow). For a start, this progressive colt is a three-parts brother to the 2003 winner of this very race, Brian Boru; for another, he is from the tremendously successful Juddmonte operation, having one more very good year in 2011, with the likes of Frankel, Workforce, Twice Over, Midday, Emulous, Announce, Timepiece and Mutual Trust to represent it in Europe; finally, he is coming off a hat-trick of victories.

On the flip side, trainer Sir Michael Stoute has not had a great season, with only 44 wins so far, although things could turn around in the next couple of months. Speaking of his ward, Sir Michael volunteered: “The vibes are good with him, but it’s the most competitive St. Leger we’ve had for many years. He’s got a proper Leger pedigree; his three-parts brother won the race so you’d be hopeful that stamina wouldn’t be a problem.”

With Ryan Moore on the sidelines due to injury and Richard Hughes – who rode Sea Moon to an eight-length win last time out in the Great Voltiguer – engaged elsewhere, Olivier Peslier has been drafted for the ride. Hughes will partner Census (by Cacique) for his father-in-law, Richard Hannon, whose 151 wins are far and away the highest recorded by any trainer in Britain this term. A thorough stayer, as evidenced by his victory in the CGA Geoffrey Freer Stakes over 13 furlongs, Census has not been out of one-two in his last half a dozen starts, and should definitely place. He will likely start at 5-1.

Star footballer Michael Owen is a keen racing fan and runs Brown Panther (by Shirocco), trained by Tom Dascombe. Normally the stable's retained rider Richard Kingscote would have been at the controls, but the team decided they needed a more seasoned hand and have opted for former champion, Kieren Fallon. Dascombe said: "It's been a very hard decision but we've gone for a more experienced jock." The colt is currently trading at 10-1.

Trainer John Gosden has been clicking at a higher percentage than many of his rivals and fields Masked Marvel (by Montjeu), for whom there has been some money of late. This has brought his price down to 8-1, from 10-1 a few days ago. A couple of months ago he had beaten Census, so certainly cannot be described as a forlorn chance. William Buick resumes his partnership with the colt as the trainer/rider combination attempt to repeat last year's success (which came through Arctic Cosmos).

Longshots often succeed in this race. Even though he is at 66-1, one must respect the chances of Genius Beast (by Kingmambo). The reason for this is that Godolphin could well have used him as a pacemaker, but chose instead to spend a huge sum to run Rumh – which leads to the inference that Genius Beast is not without hope…. Silvestre De Sousa, well-known to Indian racegoers, has been chosen to partner him.

The probable field is given below: