Chelmsford racecourse: two more fixtures moved to Southwell

Two more race meetings have been taken away from Chelmsford. The British Horseracing Authority confirmed on 18 August that the fixtures booked for Thursday 17 September and Thursday 24 September will now be run at Southwell on the same dates. (British Horseracing Authority)

That takes the count to 14 meetings moved out of the city since April. No horse has raced at Great Leighs since Thursday 26 March.

The reason has not changed in five months. The racecourse has no licensed operator, so it cannot legally stage a fixture. A rescue deal announced in July has not yet fixed that.

How Chelmsford lost its racing

The chain of events is short and well documented.

• 25 March 2026. Great Leighs Estates Limited, the company that held the racecourse licence, was placed in administration. Kirstie Jane Provan and Mark Robert Fry of BTG Begbies Traynor (London) LLP were appointed. The company number is 08614282 and its registered office was The Pavilion at Chelmsford City Racecourse, Great Leighs, CM3 1QP. (The Gazette)
• 26 March. The last meeting goes ahead under the old licence, with the administrators’ agreement.
• 31 March. That licence expires.
• 1 April. The BHA board refuses a licence to Golden Mile Racing Limited, the new company formed to run the course. The reasons are confidential. The meetings on 2 and 3 April are cancelled outright and never rescheduled. (British Horseracing Authority)
• 26 June. An independent Licensing Committee dismisses Golden Mile Racing’s appeal.
• 24 July. Arena Racing Company agrees terms with the freeholders to bring racing back.

The BHA said the Licensing Committee found that the material the applicant put forward, “including late and insufficiently detailed evidence”, failed to show a licence should be granted. The Committee also found that Great Leighs Estates “had not been frank about its indebtedness”. (British Horseracing Authority)

The 12 fixtures that belong to Chelmsford did not disappear with the licence. The BHA said they “remain with GLEL’s Administrator and may be sold or transferred to a licensed racecourse operator, with the consent of the BHA”.

The July deal, and why it has not brought racing back

On 24 July, Arena Racing Company said it had agreed terms with Chelmsford City Racecourse Ltd and Moulsham Hall Estates Ltd.

There is a detail worth noticing here. Arc already operates both Southwell and Lingfield Park, the two courses that have absorbed most of Chelmsford’s lost fixtures. The company hoping to restart racing at Great Leighs has spent the summer staging the meetings Great Leighs could not.

The wording was careful. All parties would “enter a period of exclusivity in order to enter into a long term, legally binding, agreement”, with the expectation that it would be executed shortly.

Arc chief executive Martin Cruddace said: “Racing at Chelmsford City Racecourse is hugely important to the fixture list and we are therefore delighted to work with the freeholders to reach agreement that will allow racing to return to the venue.” He added that Arc was “in discussion with BHA with regards the relevant licences required to resume racing as soon as possible”. (Arena Racing Company)

Nearly a month on, Arc’s news page carries nothing further about Chelmsford, and the BHA’s 18 August notice said nothing about a licence. On the racecourse’s own website today, the position is unchanged: “Chelmsford City Racecourse remains without a licensed racing operator at the venue. This means racing at Chelmsford is currently unable to resume.” (Chelmsford City Racecourse)

Every meeting that has moved

Each of these was a Chelmsford fixture. All were run, or will be run, elsewhere.

Three further meetings were scrapped rather than moved: 2 April, 3 April and Sunday 2 August. Southwell has taken eight of the 14.

What it means for you

If you hold a ticket, the racecourse says bookings for some fixtures and events are being cancelled and that affected customers are contacted by email with refund details. It has also paused ticket sales for everything else while it works on a long-term solution.

It has apologised for how long refunds are taking, and it explains why in unusually blunt terms: “This unprecedented situation has removed the racecourse’s primary source of revenue while we process a very large number of refunds.”

Two things are worth holding on to.

• The venue has not closed. It says it remains open and is still hosting corporate and private events. Concerts and non-raceday events are a separate question from racing, so check directly before travelling.
• Nothing is guaranteed yet. Terms agreed is not the same as a signed agreement, and a signed agreement is not the same as a BHA licence. Both still have to happen before a horse runs at Great Leighs again.

The next Chelmsford dates on the calendar after those two September meetings have not been the subject of a transfer notice. If the licence lands in time, they are the first realistic chance of racing returning.

For what else is on locally in the meantime, see our guide to things to do in Chelmsford.