York Racecourse's millennium season will come to an exciting conclusion, with three consecutive days' racing tomorrow, Friday and Saturday - a new format for the fixture.

The successive days' action provides a neat 'tidying-up' of the Knavesmire fixture list, producing a more cohesive end to the season for racegoers.

By the time the last race is run on Saturday, York's total attendance for the 2000 season should pass the 250,000 mark, with The York Race Committee hoping to build on the huge success of the recent first-ever Sunday meeting and welcome back some of the 22,500 racegoers who got the racing 'bug' on the Evening Press Sunday meeting last month.

With the leading trainer and jockey awards of the season at York still to be decided, it promises to be a cracking finale to another trail-blazing season at York.

Going into the final meeting, Sir Michael Stoute, with eight winners, has a convincing lead for The Minster Jaguar Trophy awarded to the top trainer at York this season, while Sheriff Hutton-based Kevin Darley and Richard Hills with seven winners each, share the lead in The Studford Leisure York Jockeys' Championship, followed by Michael Kinane (six winners) and Pat Eddery (five winners).

The principal race on Thursday is the Sterling Assurance Rated Stakes - a Showcase Handicap over seven furlongs .

The Green Howards Cup - competed for at this meeting since 1981 - is a Nursery Handicap for two-year-olds and the final race is a contest for apprentice jockeys.

The centre-piece of Friday's seven-race programme is the ladbrokes.co.uk Rated Stakes - a Showcase Handicap over one mile.

The £30,000-added Coral Eurobet Sprint Trophy takes pride of place on Saturday's card. One of Britain's major sprint races of the autumn, this popular contest is once again supported by bookmakers, Coral, who first sponsored at this meeting in 1979.

The action on Wednesday and Thursday begins at 2pm, while Saturday's programme gets underway at 2.10pm.

The traditional end to another successful season at York is provided by the Band of The Coldstream Guards, who will play out the year in the Parade Ring, including a rendition of 'Auld Lang Syne'.