The 2024 Betfred St Leger Stakes Winners Trophy designed and made by Colette Bishop

The St Leger Stakes Trophy

The permanent St Leger Stakes Trophy was designed by Chris Knight, Sarah Denny and Owen Waterhouse to celebrate the redevelopment of Doncaster Racecourse in 2007.

The overall concept behind the St. Leger Stakes Trophy was to produce a classic yet modern piece of silverware that had the ability to be re-designed or reinvigorated each year. Hand wrought and weighing in at approximately 10KG, the solid silver trophy is composed of a large rose water dish with a central rose bowl. The large dish is the permanent trophy of the St. Leger Stakes whilst the central, removable, rose bowl is the ‘gift’ to the winner of the race. Each year a new contemporary designer silversmith is commissioned to design a new centre, thus re-interpreting and invigorating the main trophy through the coming years. To date there have been 21 original and bespoke designs produced.

The 2024 Betfred St Leger Stakes Winners Centre

The Betfred St Leger Stakes Winners Trophy 2024 was designed and made by award-winning Silversmith Colette Bishop who is based at Yorkshire Artspace in Sheffield.

Design and technique

The inspiration for this piece is Doncaster itself. Each of the five illustrated petals that make up the Yorkshire Rose join to tell the story of what Doncaster is renowned for.

Horse – Doncaster is famous for its horse racing, hosting one of the oldest and largest racecourses in the UK. Steeped in over 400 years of history, the St Leger Stakes first run was in 1776.

Church Window – The image is a section of the beautiful stain glass windows at Doncaster Minster. Formally the Minster and ParisTeh Church of St George, is the Anglican minster church of Doncaster. It is a grade I listed building and was designed by architect designer George Gilbert Scott. The church is one of two parish churches to have minster status in South Yorkshire.

River Don – Industrial heart and power of the city. Mighty industries used the River Don, building a series of weirs used to power mills, hammers and grinding wheels.

Vulcan Bomber – This historic aircraft has been an iconic site in the skies over Doncaster in recent years. Vulcan bombers carried Britain's nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War.

Train Wheel - The town is the birthplace of engineering and prowess in building some of the most world-famous trains such as: The Flying Scotsman built over 100 years ago and the Mallard steam locomotive, which still holds the world speed record for a steam locomotive.

Horse Shoes – If you look close enough at the centre of the piece the text in the middle has been created by a punch shaped as a horse shoe to add subtle detail to the trophy.

The techniques used to create this piece is Chasing and Repoussé, this ancient process uses punches and a hammer to shape the metal from either side. Chasing uses thin tools and shapes to create an outline of the pattern/image on the front and Repoussé uses more rounded and bulbous tools to create the depth and volume from the back. The two processes go hand in hand working harmoniously together.

Colette worked in partnership with Sheffield Silversmiths Chris Knight and Chris Perry to create this year’s trophy.

For further information on the St Leger Trophy design and manufacture please contact Chris Knight: chris.knight@blueyonder.co.uk. Tel 07931 524272.

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