Brighton racecourse have teamed up with Albion to promote the first day of their new season on Sunday week.

Squad members will be joined by veterans of the past 30 years for the first of 23 days of action this year.

Racecourse manager Phil Bell said: "We are eagerly looking forward to what should be the most exciting and successful season of racing since the busy post-war years.

"Throughout the season we have arranged all sorts of attractive events to bring the crowds through the gates.

"We have built a brand new entrance hall to welcome racegoers and start off the days, or evenings, in the right mood."

Six years ago, the future of racing at Brighton was in jeopardy with the grandstands arousing the concerns of the health and safety authorities, attendances at an all-time low and the course itself not popular with the jockeys.

Since Northern Racing took over the management in 1998 and invested £5m, the course has been on an upward curve.

Raceday facilities have been comprehensively upgraded, resulting in increasing attendances and the course now caters for non-racing activities such as conferences, weddings and exhibitions.

August will see the re-introduction of the three-day festival of racing, discontinued some 30 years ago.

"This will complement the five days of Glorious Goodwood. It comes the following week and provides a Sussex Festival which stretches over almost a fortnight," said Bell.

"The first day is Tuesday, August 3, and is sponsored by the Racing Post. We are calling it 'Racing's Big Day Out.'

"The John Smith's Brighton Mile, with £30,000 in total prize money, is the highlight of the meeting and is featured on the second day, while Thursday, August 5 will be Ladies' Day, only it will be in the evening!"

Brighton has staged a series of lady riders' races for the last three years and, with a new sponsor, Pleasure Palace Racing, the first of the four races will be on the opening day, April 25, with the final on Ladies' Evening on August 5.

Pleasure Palace Racing is a syndicate run by Jeremy Hinds with horses in training at Woodingdean with Gary Moore.

Thursday, June 10 promises to be a thrilling night as the course celebrates the 30th anniversay of Abba's success in the Eurovision Song Contest at the Brighton Dome in 1974.

This will be the prelude to the three-day Abba Festival with the Abba tribute band performing between races and into the evening.

On July 4, The Argus, in association with the racecourse, is putting on a family day of sport, when racegoers and football fans will be invited to stay on into the evening to watch the final of the European Championships on the big screen.

Membership application forms are available from the racecourse at Freshfield Road, Brighton, BN2 9XZ and www.brighton-racecourse.co.uk is worth a visit.