THE tuneful farewell which brought a glorious end to Royal Ascot at York is to return during this year's Ebor Festival.

Punters were urged to clear their singing voices after York Racecourse confirmed that communal singing would follow the end of racing at the twilight of each of the three days of racing on Knavesmire in August.

Course marketing manager James Brennan said the racecourse had been so struck by the thousands of punters who swayed to the sound of the band during the five-day Ascot event, last year, it had decided to make the singing a fixture of its biggest week.

Tens of thousands of racegoers flocked to the Ebor Stand on the final day of Royal Ascot in June to belt out classic tunes including Rule Britannia, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and We'll Meet Again.

Mr Brennan said the course would bring in a Yorkshire band to oversee the performance, and promised On Ilkley Moor Baht'at would be on the songsheet.

"The communal singing is popular with racegoers in Berkshire. It was popular when Royal Ascot was held at York, and we think it would be a nice way to end the day during the Ebor Festival," he said.

"We will find a Yorkshire brass band to do it, and they will be performing all the old favourites. We hope it will be well received.

"It brings something a bit different to the York experience and, with some glorious August sunshine, it will stick out in the mind. It might take a while to catch on, but it is a nice thing to add to the quality of racing."

Meanwhile, Mr Brennan said racecourse bosses were planning for Ebor level attendances at September's St Leger classic.

There had been speculation as to whether the racecourse may look to recreate the 50,000 crowd which attended during Royal Ascot. But Mr Brennan said Leger Day usually attracted about 26,000 at Doncaster, and Ebor Day or St John Smith's Cup day crowds of nearly 40,000 were the most that were expected.

Updated: 08:47 Saturday, January 21, 2006