The world's oldest classic, the Cazoo St. Leger (G1) at Doncaster, went to Eldar Eldarov, who captured the rescheduled race Sunday after a 24-hour delay out of respect to Queen Elizabeth II, who died Thursday.
Observing a two-minute silence before the day's racing started to honor the Queen, who was a longtime patron of horse racing, jockeys and trainers bowed their heads prior to the Great Britain's national anthem.
Jockey David Egan was aboard Eldar Eldarov, a 3-year-old son of Dubawi, who won by two lengths from Haskoy while 11-8 favorite New London finished another half length back in third in the nine-horse field.
Egan had Eldar Eldarov ideally positioned in midfield, and although he was slightly hampered over two furlongs out, he advanced down the center of the track before grabbing the lead inside the final furlong, drawing well clear with 100 yards to run to seal the victory.
Haskoy was later demoted to fourth, while New London, also by Darley sire Dubawi, was promoted to second.
A lightly raced colt, Eldar Eldarov has now won four from five starts, including the Queen's Vase (G2), in which he became Dubawi's 150th individual group winner, in June at Royal Ascot.
Owned by KHK Racing Ltd. and trained by Roger Varian, Eldar Eldarov's final time for the 1¾ miles and 132 yards was 3:08.39 on turf rated as good to soft.
Varian won the St. Leger for a second time after taking the 2014 edition with Kingston Hill.
Eldar Eldarov was bred by Kirsten Rausing and is the third foal out of the stakes-winning Sea The Stars mare All At Sea.
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