Talking Horses: no picnic but crowds and cash bets will return at St Leger

Business is expected to be brisk at 9am on Friday morning when tickets go on sale for Doncaster’s St Leger Festival from 9 to 12 September – the first race meeting with paying spectators for nearly six months. In all, around 24,000 spectators are expected over the four-day festival, fewer than 50% of last year’s attendees. Many fans will just be happy to get back on a track, but it promises to be far removed from the familiar race day experience.

Related: Talking Horses: 'We're being mullered' says owner who plans to scale back

Like Goodwood, where a proposed pilot with 5,000 spectators was cancelled at the last minute earlier this month, racegoers at Doncaster next month will be allocated a zone at the track and must not stray beyond its boundaries, to reduce the opportunities for spectators to mingle.

Unlike Goodwood, which had planned to use up to seven zones for the paying public, Doncaster will have just two main areas for racegoers, in addition to hospitality areas and boxes which will be open but with reduced capacity. One zone will be around the ‘champagne lawn’ just past the winning post, with the other in the centre of the course.

Racegoers will be required to accept a code of conduct in order to buy tickets, and will be automatically registered for the government’s Trace and Trace scheme as they do so. Spectators in different zones will enter and exit the track at different times, but face coverings will be required only when using indoor facilities such as toilets and the track’s indoor betting hall.

On the subject of betting, bookmakers will be in attendance and while the number has yet to be finalised, the expectation at present is that they will be allowed to accept cash bets. This will come as a considerable relief to the layers, who had warned of chaos if they were required to process all their business via contactless terminals.

No picnics will be allowed – no food or drink of any kind can be taken into the track – and under-18s will also be barred on all days, including Saturday. The normal dress code, however, will be maintained: collar-and-tie for men, “smart dress” for ladies and, of course, a face covering close at hand for everyone.

Doncaster has spent the last 24 hours since the pilot was announced contacting all customers who had already bought tickets, establishing whether they still wanted to attend, and offering refunds or a switch to next year’s Leger Festival for those who did not. All remaining tickets – up to a total of 3,640 on 9 September and 6,200 on the next three days, will be available both online and over the phone from 9am.

All four days at Doncaster will be closely watched throughout an industry that has seen many millions of pounds in revenue wiped out entirely since mid-March. If the government’s target of a more general return of spectators from 1 October is to be realised, the pilot days need to prove that socially-distanced racing is workable and that will place a burden of trust on all fans in attendance.

Goodwood planned to admit 5,000 of its annual members and guests on a Sussex hilltop, three miles from the nearest town. Doncaster, which is a 15-minute walk from the town centre, will be selling tickets more generally and to a younger crowd.

Social distancing is harder to maintain with alcohol involved, so the track will have “social distancing officers” in all areas. Transgressors will be “reminded of their obligations while on site”, but “continued breaking of the code of conduct could unfortunately lead to expulsion from the racecourse”. That will hopefully keep everyone on their best behaviour as racing’s essential live audience returns.

Tips for Friday’s racing

The going at Newmarket was good when the final declarations went in for today’s card at Headquarters, but it is now soft after 17mm of rain on Thursday evening and the non-runner count has been climbing all morning to reach 18 at the time of writing.

The most interesting race on the card has (so far) lost only two runners, however, and so still has the magic eight for each-way punters as Godolphin’s lightly-raced three-year-old Man Of Promise (4.50) makes his handicap debut off a mark of 92.

Fontwell Park 12.00 Zarafshan 12.35 Seaborn (nb) 1.05 Glengar 1.40 Compadre 2.15 Never Learn 2.45 Transpennine Star 3.15 Monsieur D’Arque 3.50 Surf Walk

Goodwood 12.15 Sibaaq 12.45 Greycoat 1.20 Imperial Command 1.55 Lone Eagle 2.30 Lady Lynetta 3.00 Tigerten 3.30 Saras Hope 4.05 Daring Guest

Newmarket 3.05 Zwelela 3.45 Marlay Park 4.15 Born A King 4.50 Man Of Promise (nap) 5.20 Live In The Moment 5.55 Sea Trout Reach 6.30 Corazonada 7.00 Morrooj 7.35 Overpriced Mixer

That might look a little on the high side for a colt who was only a neck in front of the runner-up in a Yarmouth maiden last time out. It could be seen as potentially generous, though, in the light of Man Of Promise’s only previous start at Ascot last year, where he finished less than a length behind Mums Tipple and Molatham, this year’s Jersey Stakes winner, and in front of two more subsequent winners.

Mums Tipple and Molatham are now rated 106 and 110 respectively, while recent Listed winner Surf Dancer, who was fifth at Ascot, is on 107. Man Of Promise could well be a 100-plus horse by the end of the campaign and can underline his potential this afternoon.

Corozonada (6.30) is another to consider on the same card, while Imperial Command (1.20) and Lady Lynetta (2.30) should both go well down at Goodwood. A few miles away at Fontwell, meanwhile, Gary Moore’s Seaborn (12.35) has replaced the drifting First Man as favourite for the second race and should follow up a decisive win at Stratford last time.