Racing: Sholokhov can shrug off workhorse tag to seal the final Classic

A horse which has been on pacemaking duties all year gets a chance to show his worth and deprive the north of an overdue win

The St Leger has been having a rotten old time of it recently. Those who see racing as merely a preliminary to the breeding side of the sport refer to the race as an anachronism, a contest which may actually devalue the winner in stud terms.

Those critics should be reminded that the jousting on the track is actually the core element for most people and the Leger is never, ever a bad race. Indeed, it is invariably the most dramatic of all the Classics.

Even the arch traditionalist Barry Hills put his little boot in this week, suggesting that the 226th running of the oldest Classic was "a stinking bad race". Such an observation is probably easier to make when you do not have a runner.

"It was very disheartening [to hear Hills's opinion]," Deirdre Johnston, the work rider of this afternoon's St Leger favourite, Bandari, said yesterday. "He hasn't actually looked at Bandari's form in particular. Bandari might have run one bad race in the Derby, but he has won three other Group races this season and has all the credentials to be as good a St Leger winner as some of the ones in the past."

The Blue Riband was Bandari's only blip of the campaign and he subsequently collected both the signpost races to the Leger in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood and York's Great Voltigeur. The form of the latter race, which also draws in further contestants this afternoon in Highest and Bollin Eric, received a buffing yesterday when Systematic, the fifth home on the Knavesmire, surged clear to take the Troy Stakes on Town Moor.

The Voltigeur, however, is a difficult race to analyse as less than a length separated the three St Leger horses. Bandari was allowed to dominate at the head of affairs, which is unlikely to be allowed today, and, in any case, the Leger does not lend itself to a march across the Doncaster plain from the front.

A plausible interpretation of the York form was that the third home, Bollin Eric, who, like the favourite, would be the first winner from the north since Peleid in 1973, could be better served by the extra two furlongs.

Nevertheless, it is Bandari who has the one next to his name. Mark Johnston, who is expected to complete the 4,000 mile journey back from the Keeneland Sales at Lexington in Kentucky this morning, will be reunited with a colt reckoned to be at the peak of his powers.

"Bandari is in very good form," Deirdre Johnston, the trainer's wife, added. "He seems to have strengthened and improved since York and Goodwood. It is a very competitive race and we always respect the other runners, but I have to say that if he can run up to his best he must have a fantastic chance.

"I think Balakheri will be the biggest danger. He has actually beaten the two other Michael Stoute horses in the past and, having watched him in the Irish Derby and at Ascot he looks the sort to be progressive."

Stoute's other runners as he tries to collect the only Classic to have eluded him are Highest and First Charter, but the market, the betting patterns this week and the Newmarket vibes infer that Balakheri is the one. His foray into Classic company, in the Irish Derby, did, though, reveal limitations. Ahead of him on the Curragh was Sholokhov, who made his stablemate High Chaparral struggle to catch him for a moment and kept on gamely over the 12 furlongs, considering he had to do it all from the front. Sholokhov was again an attendant in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown last weekend as he did the donkey work for Hawk Wing. He is, though, no donkey.

The Ballydoyle colt has shown already this season that he has the constitution to take races in quick succession at the highest level. Now that he will be allowed to take his time to get into the race and conserve his powers, SHOLOKHOV (nap 3.35) looks the answer.

High Chaparral's absence from tomorrow's Prix Niel at Longchamp (his blood picture is not entirely to the liking of Aidan O'Brien) means that the premier trial for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe has a pallid look. It is a virtual walkover for the Prix du Jockey-Club winner, Sulamani.

The other Arc auditions in the Bois de Boulogne look to be at the mercy of Elie Lellouche, who saddles Aquarelliste in the Prix Foy and Bright Sky for the Prix Vermeille.