THE LADBROKES ST LEGER

Class 1, Group 1, £500,000 Total Prize Fund. Doncaster, Saturday, September 12. For 3yo only, entire colts and fillies. One mile, six furlongs & 132 yards. Weights: colts 9st; fillies 8st 11lb.

Henry Cecil's Twice Over bids to break through at Group One level in Saturday's Eclipse Stakes at Sandown. Owner Khalid Abdulla's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe rebutted the charge that the colt has been unlucky, telling PA Sport: "I don't think he's been unlucky. Last time he looked like he'd done enough to win the Prince Of Wales's and then in the last five strides he is passed by three others and finishes fourth. There was nothing unlucky about it, he ran a super race.

Four time Gold Cup winner Yeats has returned to Ballydoyle sound and well after his historic win at Ascot last Thursday, and the stayer could be in line for a run in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October.

Coolmore supremo John Magnier told the Daily Telegraph: "Aidan has said the horse is back, cantering away, and fine in himself, and his future will revolve around Goodwood, The Curragh, and the Arc weekend in Paris. It will be a mixture of these options."

Prix du Jockey-Club winner Le Havre is a 12-1 chance for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe after his Chatilly defeat of Fuisse and Westphalia on Sunday. He is trained by Jean-Claude Rouget, as is Group Three Prix de Royaumont winner Quetsche, who is likely to run in the Prix de Malleret at Saint-Cloud.

Investec Derby winner Sea The Stars' next run is weather dependant, with the Irish Derby likely if the rain holds off, and the Eclipse Stakes an alternative.

Sunday's Group Two Prix du Gros Chene winner Tax Free has been cut to 10-1 for the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Richard Hannon's Grand Prix de Chantilly winner Scintillo will bid to win once more at the highest level, when he lines up in the Gradn Prix de Saint-Cloud at the end of June.

Irish 1000 Guineas winner Again is a short price to win the Oaks, but trainer David Wachman warns that the race might come too soon for the Danehill Dancer filly. He told PA Sport: "She seems to have come out of her race fine and we're happy with her," said trainer David Wachman, who was celebrating his first Classic victory. We'll see how she is over the next couple of days before we make any hard and fast decisions.

1000 Guineas winner Ghanaati will run in the Coronation Stakes in preference to the Investec Oaks at Epsom on June 5, The Times has reported. Angus Gold, racing manager for her owner, Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, told the paper: "We have always inclined towards running her next at Royal Ascot, and that is her target. She may well go over farther later in the season, but a mile looks ideal at this stage."

Richard Hannon is planning to run Paco Boy and Major Cadeaux in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury on Saturday. He told www.richardhannon.tv: "They both worked very well last Thursday and they will have one more breeze on Wednesday, which should put them spot on.

Many observers thought Rip Van Winkle ran a fine trial for the Derby when fourth in the 2000 Guineas on Saturdya, but jockey Johnny Murtagh is not sure that the Galileo colt will stay a mile and a half.

"He stayed on nicely and it was his first run - there is improvement there - and I don't think an extra two furlongs would harm," Murtagh told At The Races.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained Rip Van Winkle, who had been vying for 2000 Guineas favouritism, has suffered a stone bruise.

O'Brien told www.racingpost.com: "Rip Van Winkle pulled out sore this morning and when we took the shoe off one of his front legs, we found a stone bruise.

THE stanjames.com 1000 GUINEAS

Class 1, Group 1 Race, Total Prize fund £400,000. Newmarket, 3.20pm, Sunday, May 3, 2009, one mile. For three-year-old fillies only.
First scratchings deadline noon, April 21 (26 Remain).

THE stanjames.com 2000 GUINEAS

Class 1, Group 1 Race, Total Prize fund £400,000. Newmarket, 3.25pm, Saturday, May 2, 2009, one mile. For three-year-olds only, entire colts and fillies.
First scratchings deadline noon, April 21 (29 Remain).

John Oxx has yet to decide whether to run Arazan in the 2000 Guineas. The colt worked at Leopardstown yesterday, and the trainer told the Racing Post: "It was a nice piece of work and we're happy with both colts. We still have almost two weeks to go to Newmarket and, hopefully, all will continue to go well.

The Clive Brittain-trained Diktat filly Wadaat was a front-running winner of the freebets.co.uk Free Bets Median Auction Maiden Fillies' Stakes at Yarmouth on Tuesday and will take in a Classic trial next.

Brittain said after the race: "She finished second to a nice colt of John Gosden's at Lingfield last time and she was coming back at him all the time so that was a good run.

"My fillies this season seem a nice bunch, and that helps them bring each other on.

THE CORONATION CUP

Class One, Group One, £225,000 Total Prize Fund. Epsom Downs, Friday, June 5, 2009. For four-year-olds and upwards, one mile & four furlongs.
Entries closed April 7, entries revealed April 8 (32 entries)

Brian Meehan is going to wait until after the Craven meeting before deciding whether Racing Post Trophy winner and Derby favourite Crowded House will run in the Stan James 2000 Guineas.

Meehan told his website: "Crowded House is coming along really well and we are happy with him. However, he will not be running in one of the early trials, so there is no rush to make any decision about where he will make his first appearance."

Trainer Tom George has still to decide on Nacarat's target at Aintree this week, with both the totesport Bowl over three miles and one furlong and the John Smith's Melling Chase over two and a half miles possible targets.

George told PA Sport: "We don't know which race he's going for yet. We are going to leave it for another 24 hours and see what the opposition is going to be like."

Tom George could run his impressive Racing Post Trophy winner Nacarat in the totesport Bowl at Aintree next week, where he would likely meet Gold Cup second Denman. The John Smith's Melling Chase over half a mile shorter is also an option for Nacarat.

THE 2009 OAKS

Class 1, Group 1, £350,000 Total Prize Fund. 4.05pm, Epsom Downs, Friday, June 5, 2009. For three-year-old fillies only. One mile & four furlongs. Weights: 9st each.
Entries closed March 17

Trainer Donald McCain is to give last year's Grand National sixth Cloudy Lane a racecourse gallop in the run-up to the race. He reports the nine-year-old to be "in full work and in good nick," along with his other Trevor Hemmings-owned National hope, Idle Talk.

McCain plans to run Champion Hurdle 12th Whiteoak in the Scottish And Newcastle Aintree Hurdle. The handler told PA Sport: "She's fine, no problems. She'll go to Aintree all being well now.

Exceptional miler by an unfashionable sire

Foaled in 1968, Brigadier Gerard was a member of an exceptional crop that included My Swallow and Mill Reef. An exceptional miler, he was beaten only once in 18 starts. Named after Arthur Conan Doyle’s swashbuckling hero, Brigadier Gerard was bred by John Hislop, who owned him in partnership with his wife.

The going could be soft for the first day of the Cheltenham Festival if forecast rain arrives. Clerk of the course Simon Claisse said on Sunday: "We are experiencing a showery day today and it will be the same again tomorrow, which will give us four or five millimetres of rain.

THE 2009 DERBY

Class 1, Group 1, £1,250,000 Total Prize Fund, Epsom Downs, Saturday, June 6, 2009. For three-year-olds only, entire colts & fillies, one mile & four furlongs.

Entries closed December 5, 2007, (474 entries).

A large number of Cheltenham contenders have had racecourse gallops over the weekend. At Leopardstown on Sunday, the Willie Mullins-trained Sicilian Secret jumped to the head of the Champion Bumper market in places after working well and getting the better of Quel Esprit.

THE DAVID NICHOLSON MARES’ HURDLE
Class 1, Grade 2, £100,000 Total prize fund, 4.40pm, Tuesday, March 10, 2009. Two miles about four and a half furlongs. For four-year-olds and upwards, Fillies and Mares only. Weights: 4-y-o 10st 5lb; 5-y-o and upwards 11st. Penalties: after September 30, 2007, a winner of a Class 2 weight-for-age hurdle race or Class 1 handicap hurdle race 3lb; of a class 1 weight-for-age hurdle race 5lb. Entries closed February 24, entries revealed February 26 (33 entries), six-day confirmations March 4, final declaration 10.00am March 9. Form figures supplied by Weatherbys and are correct up to and including the racing of Monday, February 23.