A crowd of 10,000 punters was this afternoon expected for the opening day of the new season at York Racecourse.

Clerk of the course John Smith predicted a Knavesmire crowd approaching that figure for the first day of the meeting, which includes a quality field for the feature race, the Tattersalls Musidora Stakes at 3.10pm.

Smith said: "Hopefully we are going to get a good crowd. There is a small field in the Musidora but a quality one and hopefully we will get around 10,000 people.

"The record would be about 12,000. It is difficult because it is the first day, the bigger days are tomorrow and Thursday. It is promising, the advance bookings are up."

Smith added that rain over the weekend had eased the ground, which "should make for a good day's racing".

"Hopefully it will brighten up now. We all need a bit of sun on our backs," he said.

Lambourn trainer Brian Meehan is confident about the chances of his star sprinter Tomba in Thursday's Group 3 Duke of York Stakes on Knavesmire.

"He is in great form," enthused Meehan. "He has had his first run of the season, which he always needs, and I am just hoping the ground is on the soft side. If it keeps on raining, he will win."

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