Spincer aims to delight Doncaster

It is an even bigger week for Mark Spincer, Doncaster Racecourse's managing director. As well as being the first St Leger that he will see live, he has the added pressure of organising the four-day fixture which begins on Wednesday with a legends charity race.

The 40-year-old, who grew up in Horsforth, Leeds, has taken over the reins on Town Moor from the highly-respected Adam Waterworth after the latter landed the top job down at Goodwood.

Yet Spincer is not a novice when it comes to racing.

After a career working in leisure, including a successful stint at Center Parcs, he has spent the past two years transforming the fortunes of Newcastle Racecourse – owned, like Doncaster, by Arena Leisure – and boosting attendances.

His brief is a simple one. Like all racecourse executives, his objective is to enhance the quality of the raceday experience and look to utilise the grandstand facilities – a 35m facility in Doncaster that opened three years ago – throughout the year and, specifically, on non-racing days.

"I am thoroughly enjoying it and I have a great full-time team of 60 here," he said ahead of Doncaster's biggest week of the year.

"We did a staff conference last week and the whole ethos is about winning 'hearts and minds'."

It is why racegoers this week will see more temporary bars; the aim, says Spincer, is to reduce the time punters wait to be served.

There are also enhanced ticket packages for the Leger lawn, while the champagne lawn will be able to accommodate far more people with extra seating.

"Some of these things worked well at Newcastle and we're looking forward to welcoming 80,000 people this week," added Spincer. "There's already a real buzz. Advance sales are up. So, too, hospitality, but we have to make sure, at the same time, that we're more crowd savvy.

"We race 31 times a year, which means there are 11 months of the year when there's no racing. That's when we need to be using the fantastic new facilities that we have here in Doncaster."

His plans already include a massive Halloween spectacle, complete with stars from Britain's Got Talent and X-Factor, on October 30.

"Racing is an integral part of the leisure and hospitality industry, but we can't – and don't - race every day of the year," says Spincer.

That said, his task this week is helped by four days of top quality racing, culminating with the St Leger, and record prize money of 1.9m.

This reflects the growing stature of the first three days of the meeting that begins with Welcome To Yorkshire Day on Wednesday followed by the glitz and glamour of DFS Ladies Day and then the Doncaster Cup, the highlight of Friday's card and which also comes under the tourist body's auspices.

For many, the highlight of the entire week will be the charismatic Frankie Dettori's attempt to win a sixth St Leger on the ante-post favourite Rewilding who was an impressive winner of the Great Voltigeur at York last week. It would compensate the Italian for his narrow defeat 12 months ago when Dettori's heavily-backed Kite Wood was denied by Godolphin's second-string Mastery.

But Spincer has other ideas. He likes the chances of Royal Ascot winner Dandino who is trained in Gainsborough by James Given. He's also owned by the Elite Racing Club, a syndicate of racing enthusiasts.

"A locally-trained horse, and it will be great to see the winner's enclosure packed out. It's fantastic that so many people are involved with such a good horse," added Spincer. "It's what racing is all about."

His wish is a simple one – to ensure the week goes smoothly that he can then have a small bet on Dandino, and then watch his selection complete a memorable personal double.