ARC has signed a multi-year lease and names Monday 2 November for the first meeting, subject to a BHA licence. Six fixtures to 17 December, back on Sky Sports Racing.

Horse racing is set to return to Chelmsford City Racecourse on Monday 2 November, more than seven months after the last meeting at Great Leighs. Arena Racing Company confirmed on Monday 5 October that it has signed a multi-year lease on the track and will run both the racing and the events business (Arena Racing Company, 5 October 2026).

One thing still has to happen first. The British Horseracing Authority has to grant ARC a racecourse licence, and it has not announced one yet. ARC’s own wording is that racing is “anticipated” in November, “subject to the completion of the BHA’s racecourse licensing process”.

What ARC has announced

The company’s statement says:

  • it has taken a multi-year lease of the venue from the freeholder, Chelmsford City Racecourse Ltd
  • as holder of the racecourse licence it will take complete control of racing operations and of the non-racing events business
  • the fixture on Monday 2 November 2026 is “provisionally earmarked” for the first meeting
  • five further fixtures follow in 2026: 5 and 26 November and 3, 10 and 17 December
  • racing from Chelmsford returns to live television on Sky Sports Racing and The Racing Partnership
  • every Chelmsford fixture between reopening and Good Friday, 26 March 2027, counts towards ARC’s £1,000,000 All-Weather Bonus
  • pool betting will be run by Britbet
  • Paul Ellison, executive director of Brighton Racecourse, will oversee the day-to-day running of Chelmsford

ARC operations director Kieran Gallagher said: “We are delighted to confirm the signing of the lease with the freeholders, and that racing will return to Chelmsford City Racecourse.” He thanked the BHA “for their ongoing support during the process currently underway of relicensing the racecourse”.

The racecourse’s own website now carries the same message. Its home page reads: “ARC have been confirmed as the new leaseholders and operators of Chelmsford City Racecourse. Racing is set to return to Chelmsford City Racecourse in November 2026!” It says general admission tickets “will be on sale soon” (Chelmsford City Racecourse).

The licence is the part that is not done

A lease lets ARC run the site. It does not let it stage a race. For that the BHA has to license the course, and the authority has published nothing about Chelmsford since 10 September, when it moved the 8 and 15 October evening meetings to Southwell (British Horseracing Authority, 10 September 2026). When we checked its press releases on Sunday 11 October, the newest were about an extra fixture at Ffos Las and earlier finishes at floodlit meetings in 2027 (British Horseracing Authority).

That matters because a licence refusal is how this started. The BHA board rejected an application from Golden Mile Racing Limited on 2 April, and the independent Licensing Committee dismissed that company’s appeal in June. We set out the whole sequence in our story on the October fixtures.

Timeline of Chelmsford City Racecourse in 2026: 25 March, Great Leighs Estates enters administration; 26 March, last meeting; 31 March, racing licence expires; 2 April, BHA board refuses Golden Mile Racing a licence; June, appeal dismissed; 24 July, ARC agrees terms and registers Arena Racing (Chelmsford City) Limited; 10 September, 8 and 15 October fixtures moved to Southwell; 3 October, freeholder company renamed; 5 October, ARC signs the lease; 2 November, first meeting, provisional and subject to a BHA licence.
Seven months from administration to a lease, and one step still to come. Graphic by The Chelmsford Times
Share this chartFacebookWhatsAppX

The 15 October meeting is at Southwell, whatever the website says

The racecourse’s racedays page still lists Thursday 15 October as its next fixture, with gates at 3pm, first race 5.30pm and last race 8.30pm (Chelmsford City Racecourse, racedays). The BHA transferred that meeting to Southwell a month ago. It will not be run at Great Leighs.

The page for Monday 2 November gives the same times, 3pm, 5.30pm and 8.30pm, marked “times subject to change”. It is filed under “Thursday Nights” even though it is a Monday (Chelmsford City Racecourse, 2 November). Treat those times as placeholders until ARC publishes a race card.

What the companies register shows

ARC set up its Chelmsford company the day it announced terms. Arena Racing (Chelmsford City) Limited was incorporated on 24 July 2026, registered at ARC’s Millbank Tower office in London, with “operation of sports facilities” as its stated business. Kieran Gallagher, the ARC director quoted above, has been a director since that date (Companies House, 17361069).

The freeholder side has changed too. In July ARC named two freeholders, Chelmsford City Racecourse Ltd and Moulsham Hall Estates Ltd (Arena Racing Company, 24 July 2026). The register shows that Chelmsford City Racecourse Limited changed its name to Sport and Leisure Property Limited on 3 October, two days before the lease was announced. Its accounts for the year to 30 September 2025 and its latest confirmation statement are both marked overdue (Companies House, 09224598). Moulsham Hall Estates Limited, registered at the same Moulsham Hall Lane address, is shown with the status “Receiver Action” (Companies House, 08721843).

None of that stops a race meeting. It does explain why the lease is the structure ARC wanted: the racing will be run by a new company that ARC owns, separate from the landowners.

How racing stopped

Great Leighs Estates Limited, which ran the raceday operation, entered administration on 25 March 2026. The last meeting was held the next day and the racing licence expired on 31 March. Since July the BHA has moved nine Chelmsford fixtures to other courses and cancelled a tenth, after more were moved in the spring. Eight of the nine went to Southwell and Lingfield, both ARC tracks. We reported each transfer as it was announced: the September fixtures and the October fixtures.

What it means for you

  • The date to pencil in is Monday 2 November. It is provisional. If the licence is not in place the BHA will move the fixture, as it has done since April, and we will update this page.
  • Tickets are not on sale yet. ARC says they will be bookable “shortly” through the racecourse website. The racecourse says “soon”.
  • Do not turn up on 15 October. That meeting is at Southwell in Nottinghamshire.
  • Christmas racedays are back on the list: 26 November and 3, 10 and 17 December, all Thursdays.
  • Getting there. The course is on Moulsham Hall Lane, Great Leighs, CM3 1QP. Blackley Lane in Little Leighs has been shut since 30 September under a 15-day county council order, which runs out this week; the live position is on our roadworks page.
  • For Great Leighs residents, the racecourse is not the only thing on the agenda next month. The inspectors examining the new Local Plan have questions about the three Great Leighs growth sites, and the hearings start on 10 November. See our story on the Local Plan hearings.

We will add the race times, the ticket prices and the licence decision as soon as ARC or the BHA publishes them.

Sources