Capri in top gear for St Leger

● O’brien’s grey may go for Arc glory after Doncaster triumph

Aidan O’brien added yet another Classic to his haul as Capri claimed the William Hill St Leger at Doncaster.

Only Enable has stood between O’brien and a clean sweep of all the British and Irish Classics this term, and Capri has certainly contributed his fair share in adding to his Irish Derby triumph.

The grey possibly never got the credit he deserved for beating Cracksman at the Curragh, given all the column inches that horse has demanded in recent weeks.

Sent off the 3-1 favourite to join the list of Leger legends, he needed abundant stamina to go with his undoubted class to see off Sir Michael Stoute’s Crystal Ocean and John Gosden’s Stradivarius deep inside the final furlong.

For Ryan Moore, who has won big races all over the globe, it was surprisingly his

0 Jockey Ryan Moore after riding Capri to victory in the St Leger. first win in the world’s oldest Classic, and in his understated manner he seemed quite pleasedtohavecrossedanother one off the list.

Having missed the Great Voltigeur, O’brien had a niggling doubt at the back of his mind Capri could just come up short but if, as he suggests, the 3-1 favourite will improve a little for the run, then he could easily shake up the major players in the Prix de l’arc de Triomphe.

O’brien said: “We were all delighted with him. He had a little blip at York time [when he missed the Great Voltigeur]. We were a little worried coming here, but Ryan gave him a class ride.

“He’s a horse with a lot of class,whichwesawintheirish Derby. When Ryan wanted it, he gave it to him.

“We had it in our heads that if all went well today and everything went well after he could run in the Arc.”

Capri was given quotes of 20-1 for the Chantilly spectacular on 1 October.

At Carlisle today, Flyboy deserves respect when he goes to post for a seven-furlong handicap.

The four-year-old gelding is a decent operator on his day and really ought to have won more than once in an up-and-down sort of career.

Richard Fahey has done a fair job with him since his transfer from David O’meara’s yard, though, as he has been placed on three of his five starts for the Malton handler.

His last effort at Epsom, when seventh in a good handicap as the 100-30 favourite, can be forgotten about as he was denied a clear run inside the penultimate furlong and the game was up from there on in.

Before that, Flyboy was defeated by just a short head in a seven-furlong handicap at Leicester, so that should be the prescient formline with this in mind.

The gelded son of Zoffany will almost certainly remain competitive off a mark of 78, while the possibility of testing conditions ought not to be an issue.

There is an awful lot to like about him in a humdrum encounter.