André Fabre came to the defense of the St Leger: “Stayers will come back into fashion”

Ahead of the historic 250th running of the Doncaster classic, the French master recalled his 1991 victory with Toulonand dismissed any suggestion of altering its distance or position on the calendar

DONCASTER, England (Special for Turf Diario).— Few voices can speak about Europe’s premier races with as much authority as André Fabre. Across decades of landmark victories, champion horses, and international glory, the French master trainer also holds the rare distinction of having captured the St Leger (G1)—a race celebrating its historic 250th running this year, whose place in the modern thoroughbred landscape often stirs debate.

Fabre harbors no doubts: the race must be defended exactly as it stands. Neither shortened nor moved forward on the calendar, and certainly not surrendered to the notion that staying contests have permanently lost their relevance.

“Stamina races like the St Leger have been out of fashion for a while, but they will come back, I am sure,” the trainer stated, opening a far deeper discussion than the mere survival of a single race: the very nature of the horse the bloodstock industry aims to produce.

“A lot of horses are currently being sold to Australia, but we need to breed horses that have stamina, not just those with speed,” Fabre asserted. He added: “Everyone is breeding these early, sharp 2-year-olds now, and I don’t blame anyone for doing so, but stayers will come back into fashion. I am sure of it.”

The Frenchman knows the St Leger intimately. In 1991, he penned an unforgettable chapter at Doncaster with Toulon(Top Ville), carrying the silks of Khalid Abdullah under a masterful ride from the legendary Pat Eddery.

Toulon entered that sophomore season shoulder-deep in sky-high expectations. He went postward as the favorite for the Epsom Derby (G1), though everything went wrong that afternoon. Breaking poorly, he never managed to get into contention.

“He was a very good horse and an excellent 3-year-old. He had won his prep at Chester very convincingly, and I thought Epsom would pose no problem, but he ran poorly that day. He probably failed to handle the track. He lost ground at the start and Pat could never get him back into the race,” Fabre recalled.

Doncaster proved to be a completely different story. Toulon arrived at the St Leger as the joint 5-2 favorite and delivered on his full potential. Eddery kept the tactics straightforward, and the colt responded by drawing clear to win by 1 1/2 lengths over Saddlers' Hall (Sadler's Wells), with the third-place finisher a distant 15 lengths back.

“When he won the St Leger, the top two finished way ahead of the rest. Pat was under contract with Khalid Abdullah, so he was always going to ride him, and that day he kept everything simple. He was exceptionally good aboard stayers,” he remembered.

Thirty-five years later, Fabre remains the last French-based trainer to capture the St Leger—a race whose relationship with top classic colts has evolved significantly over the decades.

Reference Point (Mill Reef), in 1987, remains the last Epsom Derby winner to follow up with a victory at Town Moor. Last season, Lambourn (Australia) attempted the double without success, as it becomes increasingly rare for Epsom heroes to take on the grueling 2900-meter test.

This gradual retreat by middle-distance stars fueled years of proposals to alter the St Leger, primarily by shortening the distance or moving it earlier in the season. Fabre firmly rejects both alternatives.

“Some might say you need to change the distance or run it earlier, but I disagree. It can be a demanding race when the ground is soft, but it will come back into fashion,” he affirmed.

He maintains that a quality 2400-meter horse is fully capable of answering the call: “Only owner-breeders seem to be producing horses capable of getting these distances nowadays, but if you have a good mile-and-a-half horse, you can run in the St Leger.”

Fabre built much of his legendary career around that precise profile of racehorse, and he has no intention of shifting his philosophy now. “I still train plenty of middle-distance horses. They are the type of horses I’ve always done well with,” he explained.

This Saturday, as Doncaster celebrates two and a half centuries of classic history, the St Leger will once again put an essential foundation of the thoroughbred breed to the test: stamina.

To Fabre, that trait may have lost ground to immediate speed and the commercial demands of modern breeding, but its intrinsic value remains timeless.

Trends fluctuate. Stamina, the French master insists, will ultimately find its place at the top once again.