St Leger Festival extended to a week

Around 60,000 people are thought to travel to South Yorkshire for the September meeting, which includes four days of racing including the popular Ladies' Day and St Leger Day on the Saturday.

This year the Town Moor course will host racegoers between September 8 and September 11, but Doncaster Council and racecourse operator Arena Leisure said more would be on offer.

Special events are planned to start on Monday, September 3, and run through the week until Sunday, September 12, including guided heritage walks around the town and musical performances.

Mark Spincer, the recently-appointed managing director at Doncaster Racecourse, said: "The course has been fully behind enhancing the St Leger Racing festival for the past three years.

"We have worked to introduce a 'Festival' atmosphere to the town in a bid to stimulate the economic benefit derived from the St Leger and hoped to bring back the spirit of race week for the residents of Doncaster."

Dan Fell, head of policy at Doncaster Chamber, said: "The St Leger Festival is of great significance to the local economy. The Chamber strongly welcomes the intention to involve the communities and businesses of Doncaster in the festival and to broaden the scope of the event.

"Doing so will help to showcase the whole town to residents and visitors alike and demonstrate that the town is a great place for both business and entertainment."

A leaflet to promote the events is being distributed to bars and hotels this week and will also be available in the town's tourist information centre, libraries, museum and council receptions.

Details will also be made available on the website www.visitdoncaster.com/stleger