THE CLASSIC
IAN MONGAN knows what it is like to be an underdog. He also knows what it is like to be an underdog who succeeds.
Eighteen seasons of hard slog as a jockey, a riding career of consistent but largely low-key success, had its zenith in 2011 when Mongan landed the Group One Juddmonte International Stakes at York on Sir Henry Cecil-trained Twice Over.
No-one on the Knavesmire was happier with the result than the late Cecil, delighted that a rider who had become an integral part of his team on and off the track had landed a big one.
Tomorrow Mongan and his trainer wife Laura will be hoping for another such day when they run Harbour Law in the Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster. The sponsors make Harbour Law a 25-1 shot in the nine-horse line-up dominated by Aidan O’Brien’s trio of 4-6 favourite Idaho plus Sword Fighter and Housesofparliament. But Mongan believes Harbour Law is overpriced, especially if the rain scheduled to fall overnight can make the colt’s stamina come more into play. The former jockey, 37, who will drive the horsebox containing Harbour Law from his wife’s Epsom