Crowds expected to flock to Windsor as jump racing returns to Thameside venue for the first time since 2005

After an absence of almost exactly 19 years, or 6,939 days, jump racing returns to Windsor on Sunday, with a bumper pre-Christmas crowd anticipated to witness a slice of British racing history.

The weighing room names have certainly changed in the interim; that December Friday card in 2005 featured a double for Mick Fitzgerald as well as winners booted home by both Robert and Andrew Thornton, Timmy Murphy, Sam Thomas and Christian Williams.

The late Robert Alner's high-class staying chaser The Listener took the headlines that day and, while there is nothing of the calibre of that gallant grey on show for the relaunch, there is a neat piece of symmetry as now-trainer Williams sends one of his stable stalwarts in Cap Du Nord to headline the feature Fitzdares Thames Handicap Chase (1.55).