St Leger, it is disappointing to report, did not give his name to the classic race at Doncaster. That distinction belongs to a Colonel St Leger, whose moniker was attached to the third running of the event, in 1778.
The original St Leger, or Leodegarius, was a seventh-century ecclesiastic who suffered the most barbaric penalties after becoming involved in the power struggles of Merovingian France.
Born around 620, Leger began his career promisingly enough, as the nephew of the Bishop of Poitiers. By his early 20s he was an archdeacon.
