The Irish St Leger has attracted an 7-runner field for the Curragh on Sunday, but there is little doubt about which horse will be getting most of the attention.
Scandinavia heads into the 2026 Comer Group International Irish St Leger as a very short-priced favourite, with prices around 1/3 available during the build-up to the race. The Group 1 is scheduled for 4.35pm, is run over one mile and six furlongs, and carries total prize money of €500,000.
A price that short will never appeal to everyone, particularly with ten horses lining up against him, but it is not hard to see why bookmakers are taking few chances.
Scandinavia has put together seven consecutive wins and has developed from a smart three-year-old stayer into the horse that the rest of the European staying division currently has to measure itself against.
Scandinavia Has Hardly Put a Foot Wrong
It is easy to forget quite how quickly Scandinavia has risen through the staying ranks.
The son of Justify was still developing when he went to Goodwood as a three-year-old in July 2025, but he came away with the first of what has now become a pair of Goodwood Cups. Wayne Lordan rode him that day, and Scandinavia got the better of stablemate Illinois by three-quarters of a length, becoming the first three-year-old since Stradivarius in 2017 to win the race.
He followed that with another Group 1 success in the St Leger at Doncaster when he started as the 2/1 favourite and was sent to the front with a little over two furlongs remaining by Tom Marquand.
Not every top stayer wins by five or ten lengths, and sometimes the more useful sign is seeing what happens when another good horse gets close enough to ask a serious question.
Scandinavia answered it at Doncaster, rounding out an exceptional season before going on his break.
Four Wins From Four in 2026
His four-year-old season has taken things further and began when he returned in the Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan in April, winning by a length and a half. He then went to Leopardstown for the Group 3 Saval Beg Levmoss Stakes over the same one-mile-six-furlong distance he faces on Sunday.
He was sent off at 2/9 and won by half a length from Happy Pharoah. The margin was not large, but he was always doing enough after taking over inside the final two furlongs.
Royal Ascot then supplied his biggest stamina test of the year so far. The Gold Cup is run over almost two and a half miles, a very different race from Sunday’s assignment, and Scandinavia found himself involved in a proper contest with Trawlerman. The pair drew well clear of the rest and Scandinavia eventually won by a head.
That was followed by another clash at Goodwood, and this time the finish was far less close. Scandinavia won the Goodwood Cup by eight and a half lengths from Trawlerman, with Rahiebb third.
There was an important qualification because a loose horse affected Trawlerman during the race, so simply looking at the winning margin does not tell the whole story.
Even allowing for that, Scandinavia was clearly on top by the finish and extended his winning run to seven.
Aidan O’Brien Also Has Jan Brueghel and Queenstown
One feature of the Irish St Leger is that Scandinavia does not even have the Ballydoyle challenge to himself. This isn’t unusual given the talent at Aidan O’Brien’s yard so he also looks set to saddle Jan Brueghel and Queenstown among the 7 runners.
Jan Brueghel is a St Leger winner himself, having won the Doncaster Classic in 2024, but Queenstown arrives from a very different route.
The six-year-old returned from a 300-day absence in the Irish St Leger Trial over Sunday’s course and distance on 22nd August and won by four and a half lengths from Kizlyar. It was a strong comeback after an injury had kept him away from the track since finishing second in the Prix Royal-Oak.
Is Scandinavia Really a 1/3 Chance?
That is the question bettors have to answer.
Scandinavia has an official rating of 125, the highest in the race, and on paper, he is clearly the horse to beat.
The argument against taking a very short price is that horse racing rarely works quite as neatly as ratings suggest. Scandinavia’s Gold Cup victory over Trawlerman was only by a head, his Saval Beg win was by half a length and the big winning margin at Goodwood came in a race affected by a loose horse.
Those are not criticisms of the horse. They are simply reasons why anyone taking odds-on has to accept that even a clear favourite can be made to work.
There is also the question of how the race develops. With three runners from Aidan O’Brien and five from Joseph O’Brien, there are plenty of horses capable of influencing the early pace.
Finding reasons why Scandinavia might be beaten is easier than finding a horse that can actually beat him.
Jan Brueghel has the class but has not raced since June. Queenstown has just produced an excellent comeback but now has to improve from Group 3 company into one of Europe’s main staying races. Trustyourinstinct loves the Curragh but is moving into Group 1 company for the first time.
Scandinavia, meanwhile, already has four Group 1 wins during his current seven-race winning sequence, including two Goodwood Cups, the Doncaster St Leger and this year’s Ascot Gold Cup.
The question is whether one of his rivals can make him produce something close to his best, but at the moment, Scandinavia has given very little reason to think that will be enough to stop him.
BETFRED
