Doncaster's St Leger tipped to be among sports events allowing return of spectators

The Government confirmed yesterday that a number of pilot sporting events were being lined up to test the return of fans following the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

That will begin with the final of the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield this weekend – and the annual four day Leger meeting at Town Moor from September 9-12 is also supposedly among events being considered.

An October 1 return is being mooted for fans in other sports – but the Government wants to test the water with a number of events ahead of that day.

The plan remains for fans to return to stadiums from the start of October while maintaining social distancing, which will likely see capacities limited to a third.

A No 10 statement said: 'The piloting of a small number of sporting events to test the safe return of spectators will resume from August 15 with a view to reopening competition venues for sports fans, with social distancing measures in place from October 1.

'This will commence with the final of the World Snooker Championship at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre during 15-16 August, with a full pilot programme to follow.'

Mark Spincer, Arena Racing Company’s managing director, which runs Doncaster Racecourse said: "I will be putting forward that Doncaster becomes the next pilot. We’ll do all we can and work with all the representative bodies to have the chance to have the next trial.”