Can Aidan O’Brien’s Benvenuto Cellini Redeem Himself In the 2026 St Leger?

The St Leger returns to Doncaster on Saturday, September 12th, and Aidan O’Brien once again finds himself holding several of the stronger cards.

That should hardly come as a surprise considering O’Brien has won the St Leger nine times and arrives in 2026 looking for a fourth straight success in the race.

His most recent win was with Scandinavia in 2025, when the 2/1 favourite held off 14/1 shot Rahiebb by a neck, with another Ballydoyle runner, Stay True, finishing third.

Scandinavia's victory followed Jan Brueghel in 2024 and Continuous in 2023, so there is a very recent pattern of O’Brien getting this particular race right.

This year, Derby winner Christmas Day currently heads the ante-post betting with several bookmakers. Stablemate Pierre Bonnard is also prominent, while Maltese Cross and Joseph O'Brien's Enceladus are well supported.

A little further down at around 12/1, depending on the bookmaker, sits another very familiar name: Benvenuto Cellini. Current prices vary, but he’s a general 12/1 shot which, for a horse who started the Epsom Derby as favourite, makes that price immediately worth a second look.

Online betting sites now offer far more than just racing markets, with many allowing customers to bet on sport or play mobile roulette games from the same account, but for racing fans the ante-post St Leger market is likely to become much more interesting as Doncaster gets closer.

Benvenuto Cellini Has Had a Strange 2026

It would be a little unfair to describe Benvenuto Cellini's season as disappointing. He is, after all, an Irish Derby winner who has also finished third in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.

But it probably has not been the season his connections imagined when he arrived at Epsom as Derby favourite. Things got off to a great start when he won the Chester Vase in May. Then it all went a bit wrong at Epsom.

His hind leg became caught on part of the starting stalls as the gates opened, leaving him with a poor start. Although he completed the race, the stewards subsequently ruled that he had been denied a fair start and officially declared him a non-runner. Christmas Day went on to beat Maltese Cross and give O'Brien another Derby victory.

Fortunately, we did not have to wait long to find out whether Epsom had simply been one of those days. Three weeks later Benvenuto Cellini met Christmas Day again in the Irish Derby at the Curragh, and this time the result was very different.

Ryan Moore settled him towards the rear before producing him in the straight, and Benvenuto Cellini beat Christmas Day by a length and three-quarters. Pierre Bonnard was another neck away in third.

He then stepped outside his own age group in the King George at Ascot, finishing third behind Kalpana and Calandagan, beaten by two lengths.

It was another solid run and certainly no reason to write him off, but given the hype surrounding him at the start of the season, it was a little disappointing.

But Will Benvenuto Cellini Stay the St Leger Distance?

This is the obvious question. The St Leger is run over one mile, six furlongs and 115 yards, significantly further than the mile and a half over which Benvenuto Cellini won the Irish Derby.

Interestingly, immediately after the Curragh victory, O’Brien sounded doubtful that he would be able to go the distance. He explained that Ryan Moore felt he would be better coming back in distance rather than moving beyond a mile and a half.

At that point, O’Brien was talking about races such as the Champion Stakes and the Breeders' Cup rather than Doncaster. Yet here we are in August, and Benvenuto Cellini is among O'Brien's nine St Leger entries.

Whether he runs or not remains ot be seen, but that extra two and a half furlongs at Doncaster is a definite unknown.

Christmas Day, Maltese Cross, Pierre Bonnard and Enceladus

Christmas Day is the obvious starting point among the opposition.

He won the Derby and has always looked likely to stay further. O’Brien was already mentioning the St Leger as a possible target after the Irish Derby, and he has been towards the front of the betting for much of the summer.

There is also Maltese Cross, trained by William Haggas. He chased Christmas Day home at Epsom before winning the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris, which strengthened his position considerably.

Pierre Bonnard gives O’Brien yet another option. He finished third in the Irish Derby and remains close to the front of the market despite having something to find with Benvenuto Cellini on their Curragh form.

Then there is Enceladus, trained by Joseph O’Brien, who has made good progress this year, winning at Royal Ascot before following up in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood.

The Great Voltigeur at York is also likely to have a major say in how the betting looks by the time Doncaster arrives, with several leading St Leger names involved in that race.

How The St Leger Field Is Whittled Down

The 2026 St Leger will be run at Doncaster Racecourse on Saturday, September 12th, with the race currently scheduled for 3.35pm. It is open to three-year-old colts and fillies and is run over 1m6f115yds. Colts carry 9st 3lb and fillies 9st.

There are currently 27 entries, although the maximum field is 20 and that includes the likes of Action, Alderman, Ancient Egypt, Benvenuto Cellini, Causeway, Christmas Day, Enceladus, Galiyan, Golden Story, Hatteen, Highwayman, Maltese Cross, Montreal, Piazza San Marco, Pierre Bonnard, Rebel Rocker, and Amelia Earhart, to name just a few.

The next important date is August 24th, when the second stage takes place. Horses can then be scratched by noon on August 25th.

Confirmations are due on September 7th, which is also the deadline for supplementary entries. Adding a new horse at that stage costs £50,000, with final declarations then made on September 10th, two days before the race.

The race has a guaranteed prize fund of £700,000, with £396,970 going to the winner, £150,500 to second and £75,320 to third. Prize money is paid down to sixth place.

Benvenuto Cellini still has to prove that he really wants this longer distance, and that is probably the main reason he can be backed at around 12/1 rather than sitting alongside Christmas Day at the head of the market.

But he has already beaten Christmas Day and Pierre Bonnard fairly this season, and his King George third suggests his Irish Derby victory was no one-off.

If O’Brien decides that Doncaster really is the right race for him, Benvenuto Cellini could be one of the more interesting horses to follow as the St Leger field begins to take its final shape.