Jim Crowley: “I’m hopeful we can reverse the York form”

Coral ambassador previews his rides ahead of day one of St Leger

Barring any last minute u-turns, the first day of the Leger meeting will see the return of spectators to the race course, and from a rider’s point of view, it will be great to get crowds back, we’ll certainly notice it.

It’s the next step in getting back to normal, the sooner that can happen the better, and like everyone I’ll be hoping it all goes smoothly, and not just in racing either, we’re aware of the issues in the wider world, and we’re all hoping things don’t take a turn for the worse.

It’s been a challenging year for the sport obviously, but in the circumstances, I think a lot of people deserve plenty of credit, from the weighing room point of view things have run remarkably smoothly. We read this week that full capacity is unlikely at next year’s Cheltenham Festival, that tells you how far we have to go, but this is a step in the right direction, any return to some sort of normality has to be welcomed.

Doncaster 1.10 – Mohaafeth

Sheikh Hamdan runs two in the opening maiden, Moktasaab and my mount, Mohaafeth. I’ve obviously not got much to go on, I haven’t sat on either at home, so I’ve very much taken the advice of [assistant racing manager] Richard Hills, who’s an important part of the Shadwell team.  My fellow is a beautifully bred son of Frankel, but whatever he does here, and indeed Owen’s [Burrows] runner does, they’re two lovely horses for the future. There are a couple in here with racecourse experience, that could prove vital here, but we’ll just be looking for nice introductions from our pair, it certainly wouldn’t be the end of the world if I was on the wrong one here.

Doncaster 1.40 – Mayaas