Albion goalscoring legend Bobby Zamora returns to Brighton on Sunday.

The former Seagulls talisman, whose goals helped secure back-to-back championships, is supporting the Albion Raceday as Brighton racecourse launches its new flat season with a bang (first race 2.05pm).

Zamora, now with West Ham, will be joined by other Albion heroes of yesteryear.

They will help raise funds for the club when a capacity 6,000 attendance is expected.

It is a two-way arrangement as the racecourse bids to attract a wider audience by linking up with the city's biggest sporting attraction.

General manager Phil Bell said: "To be brutally honest, racing has got to appeal to a broader audience if we are going to survive as a sport. Racing is a minority sport, we know that.

"We are not going to get bigger crowds just by putting on six races.

"We're in the entertainment business and out for the leisure pound.

"Linking up with the Albion is a perfect example of what we're about now. It is not just about midweek meetings for the hard-core punter.

"We're starting on a Sunday for the first time rather than a drab Thursday. It's a customer-friendly fixture.

"We've got three more family days scheduled for Sundays and have introduced a Saturday morning and two evening meetings, including an Abba night."

Bell will work with national basketball champions Brighton Bears, county cricket champions Sussex and Albion to raise the course profile.

Bell is convinced the re-introduction of the three-day festival (August 3-5) will appeal to the purist punter.

He said: "That will provide good racing and feature our richest race, the £30,000 John Smith Brighton Mile. We're trying to boost the prize money on all three days."

Brighton's revival started when Northern Racing took over the course in 1998.

Average attendances have doubled to 2,000 while hospitality turnover increased from £10,000 to £330,000 in 2003.

But there is no room for complacency. Chairman Stan Clark, despite health problems, is still driving on Bell and his team, who include events manager Matt Hudson, sales boss Judy Welsh and assistant Mark Powell.

Bell said: "When I first got the job I was told I'd be out on my ear if I didn't sell anything in three months. I've been trying to sell the course ever since. I've thrown my life at it."

He predicts the Albion Raceday will kick off the course's biggest season since the days when 20,000 punters would regularly flock to meetings during its heyday in the Fifties.

Albion players past and present will be there on Sunday including Fifties captain Glen Wilson, Sixties goalkeeper Brian Powney, Stuart Storer, who scored Albion's last goal at the Goldstone, and Steve Gritt, who managed the Great Escape in 1997.

The current squad will take part in a parade.