The forecast rain called into question Frankie Dettori's initial decision to ride Gregory, who would be seen to best effect on a quicker surface and won the Group 2 Queen's Vase at Royal Ascot. In contrast, stablemate Arrest relished ease in the ground at Newbury when taking out the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes in mid-August and was a wide-margin winner of the Group 3 Chester Vase in testing conditions in May.

It will be the Italian jockey's final ride in a Classic during his swansong year and the St Leger has proved particularly fruitful for Dettori. He has recorded six victories in the race, including when partnering the Juddmonte-owned Logician for the Gosden team in 2019.

Jockey Kieran Shoemark looks set to partner stablemate Gregory as he bids for a first Classic success. Shoemark has ridden 48 winners thus far in the 2023 calendar year, six of which have been provided by John and Thady Gosden.

The supplemented Middle Earth will be partnered by Qatar Racing's retained rider Oisin Murphy, while Chesspiece, the sole representative for Godolphin, will be the mount of James Doyle once more.

The HM King and HM Queen will be hoping for British Classic glory with William Haggas' King George V Stakes winner Desert Hero attempting to back up his victory over Chesspiece in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood.

Aidan O'Brien is responsible for four of the nine declarations with Great Voltigeur winner Continuous, Alexandroupolis, Denmark and Tower Of London all standing their ground at the final stage.