There could be major changes afoot for British racing over the next five years with the news that The Jockey Club has nominated its Kempton Park Racecourse site for a housing redevelopment project. Assuming planning permission is granted for the project, which falls under Spelthorne Borough Council's recent 'Call for Sites' programme to address unmet local housing needs, the facility would then cease operating as a racecourse as soon as 2021, a move that will require a major reallocation of the venues fixtures that include such iconic races as the King George VI Chase. In an effort to soften the blow of losing Kempton Park, which provides both turf and all-weather racing, the Jockey Club have released details of a major commitment aimed at developing several new initiatives across a broad spectrum of the industry.
Perhaps the highest-impacting initiative would be the development of a new all-weather racecourse on Jockey Club land in Newmarket. The Jockey Club are currently preparing a planning application for the development of such a course at The Links site in with the objective of the new track catering for the potential loss of Kempton's all-weather flat fixtures, in addition to providing an all-year-round racing facility at the centre of the country's largest thoroughbred population. The intention is also for there to be no gap in operations between Kempton Park closing and this new track being fit for function.
Another major side effect of a potential closure of Kempton would be the restaging of the King George VI Chase. The Jockey Club intend to transfer this and other Kempton national hunt features to nearby Sandown Park while simultaneously rolling out a series of redevelopments aimed at improving the facilities at Sandown for both humans and equines. The balance of Kempton's jumps fixtures would then be allocated throughout the large portfolio of other Jockey Club Racecourses around the country.
All plans hinge on planning permission being granted for the Kempton site, which would obviously lead to a financial windfall for the Jockey Club, much of which would be earmarked for investment back into the industry. Commenting on the news Roger Weatherby, senior steward of The Jockey Club said, “The Jockey Club is governed by Royal Charter to act for the long-term good of British Racing. We must show leadership with the assets we have and, where merited, take tough decisions to help our sport to keep moving forwards. The decision to submit our estate at Kempton Park for consideration in the Local Plan is unique and has not been taken lightly. Our Board of Stewards are horsemen and, having carefully considered what we can achieve in the long run from doing so, are unanimously of the view that British Racing is better served by us doing so.”
Weatherby continued, “A new purpose-built all-weather course on The Links in Newmarket to replace that at Kempton Park would be ideal for the thousands of horses trained at the Home of Racing and beyond, as well as shortening the working day for racing's people there. I am also particularly pleased that The Jockey Club will be even better placed in the coming years to provide further support to important causes, such as racing's welfare and education programmes. As ever our intention is for our sport to benefit to the greatest extent possible.”
BHA chief executive Nick Rust offered his support for the project. “We acknowledge and understand the reasons behind the Jockey Club's announcement today,” he commented. “The BHA will work with them in the development of their plans to ensure that the long-term interests of the sport and its grassroots are best served in the coming years. The proposed Newmarket track would need to go through the usual processes for the addition of new racecourses to ensure the course would meet all the necessary licensing criteria.”
History has been made on several occasions over the years at Kempton Park, mostly involving the featured King George, the traditional Boxing Day feature Dec. 26. The dashing grey Desert Orchid (GB) (Grey Mirage {GB}) made the race his own, winning it four times in five years from 1986 to 1990. Then along came Kauto Star (Fr) (Village Star {Fr}) who rewrote the record books by winning the race five times, culminating in 2011 when he regained his crown from Long Run. Even the 2016 renewal served up its own piece of history when the Colin Tizzard trained Thistlecrack (GB) (Kayf Tara {GB}) became the first novice to win the three-mile steeplechase.
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