St Leger Festival SmartPlays: Thursday September 11

The card begins at 13:40 with a fillies' nursery, in which Vesnina is a surprisingly appealing price considering she's officially 9 lb well-in with the BHA. We would broadly agree with the assertion, there being no doubt that her fourth-place finish in a Group 3 at Salisbury last week represented an improvement in this well-bred filly's form. What's more, the six-furlong trip that day looked to be on the sharp side for Vesnina, who emerged to lead the main body of runners despite being outpaced at halfway. Here she steps up half a furlong in trip, which still isn't totally ideal in all likelihood, though if she can derive any benefit from it she will only raise further the already daunting bar she has set.

The Park Hill Stakes (14:40) is the race of the day in terms of grade and it's intriguingly competitive, too. It's maybe a little counter-intuitive to take the hard-nosed approach in a race like this, but Seal of Approval is a clear top-rated in this race and we reckon she should also be a clear favourite. She ran in the 2013 renewal, which came to an inglorious end as she clipped heels and fell inside the last two furlongs. Given how she recovered to win on Champions Day five weeks later, you fancy she might be arriving this year as defending champion. This season overall has been one of glimmers (York and Newbury) and blobs (Haydock). Ultimately, if Seal of Approval is able to confirm the promise of her close third in the Geoffrey Freer then she would be the outstanding candidate.

We're going straight from the pragmatic to the speculative with our final bet. It comes in the closing six-furlong handicap (17:35) and centres on a horse and a motive we should all be familiar with. Doc Hay admittedly isn't making his first start for David O'Meara, though he is now a lot lower than when he was last seen in that trainer's care. O'Meara has got the best out of Doc Hay in the past, leading him to victory in the Portland here a couple of years back and, perhaps even more pertinently, success from a BHA mark of 100 at Redcar less than 12 months ago. Today, Doc Hay is rated 87 by the BHA. A claimer win last time suggests Brian Ellison was starting to turn Doc Hay's season around, so if his old boss O'Meara can keep that up he's well worth chancing in even this sort of company.

Timeform UK SmartPlays
All at Doncaster

Back Vesnina @ 5.39/2 in the 13:40
Back Seal of Approval @ 4.67/2 in the 14:40
Back Doc Hay @ 14.527/2 in the 17:35