Following his clean sweep of the first three places in Sunday's Group 1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh on Sunday, bookmakers were taking few chances with Aidan O'Brien's Treasure Beach, Seville, and Memphis Tennessee, cutting the odds for each of the three for victory in the final British classic of the season, the St Leger, at Doncaster in September, writes Elliot Slater.
Even though O'Brien made it quite clear in his post-race interviews following the victory of the impressive Treasure Beach that the colt is most unlikely to take his chance in the one-and-three-quarter-mile contest at Town Moor later in the season, bookmakers were still taking no chances whatsoever, trimming his horseracing odds from a pre-race high of 10/1 to as short as 7/2 joint-favourite with one firm, although the majority offer 9/2 or 5/1.
O'Brien hinted that if he doesn't give the Galileo colt a mid-term break now, then he will most likely go for either the Grand Prix de Paris on July 14, or the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot later the same month. The prospect of either or both of Seville and Memphis Tennessee running at Doncaster was not ruled out however, prompting betting firms to cut their respective odds; Seville (second at the Curragh) being trimmed to a best priced 12/1 having been as big as 16s pre-race, whilst Memphis Tennessee, third at the Curragh having finished fourth in the Epsom equivalent, attracted plenty of horse racing bets and was slashed to as short as 8/1 in the ante-post market having been available at up to 20/1 on Sunday morning prior to his brave front-running effort.
John Gosden's Royal Ascot winner Nathaniel remains a general 7/2 favourite for the world's oldest classic even though his participation in the historic event is still far from certain.