Great Leighs racecourse could be up and running again in 2013
Racing at Great Leighs, the Essex all-weather track which was open for under a year before going into administration in January 2009, may have come a step closer on Monday after racehorses galloped on the eight and a half furlong Polytrack course for the first time since its licence was revoked over two years ago.
Great hopes: Great Leighs racecourse in Essex proved popular with Newmarket trainers before it went into administration Photo: JONATHAN LODGE
By Marcus Armytage 11:00PM BST 16 May 2011
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The track, built by entrepreneur John Holmes, is now owned by West Register, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland while the actual artificial surface itself is owned by Martin Collins, the Polytrack specialist who laid the original surface but was never paid for it.
A deal to rescue the property by local businessman Terry Chambers and racehorse owner Bill Gredley fell at the final hurdle in September 2009 and as recently as March the Eddie Stobart chief executive Andrew Tinkler, an emerging force in racing, had his name put into the mix after dropping in to visit the site in his helicopter.
The course was a popular venue with trainers 50 miles away in Newmarket who otherwise have to travel twice as far to get to the next closest all-weather venues at Southwell and Kempton.
The horses which worked there came from the yards of Phil McEntee, Chris Wall and Stuart Williams, while Luca Cumani was present as a spectator. After the work out, Wall gave it the thumbs up. He said: “The surface seems fine, they have no worries on that score. It rode as well as it ever did. It hasn’t broken down at all and all the horses strode out well on it.”
Even if Great Leighs is sold it will be a minimum 18 months before it could expect to be up and running again as a racecourse as it has missed the boat for the 2012 fixture allocation.
In a statement yesterday the BHA said: “No one holds a licence for Great Leighs and no formal application has been made. The deadline for any new racecourse wishing to participate in the 2012 fixture allocation expired on January 31st. The Authority received no application by that date. Therefore there will be no fixtures allocated to Great Leighs, or any other new racecourse, in 2012 fixture list.”
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