Chelmsford's upcoming fixtures cancelled including Good Friday card

Horse Racing

Wed April 01, 2026 · 5M ago

Chelmsford's next three meetings, including the valuable Good Friday card featuring an ITV4 race, have all been cancelled after the racecourse lost its licence to host fixtures.

Scheduled race days this Thursday, Good Friday and Thursday April 9 have all been called off, throwing the course's future into major doubt due to financial difficulties.

Operators the Great Leighs Estates Limited went into administration last week and while Thursday's card initially got special dispensation from the BHA to take place it has now been cancelled along with the other two fixtures.

Final declarations for the Good Friday card, which was all set to feature three Class 2 contests including the Tattersalls £40,000 EBF Novice Stakes, the £50,000 Chelmsford Mile Series Final and the £60,000 Greene King Conditions Stakes, had just been made when the news came through on Wednesday.

It is a track that has had issues before, most notably when named Great Leighs which shut a year after opening in 2009 before it reopened again in 2015.

The British Horseracing Authority said in a statement: "Once it was confirmed that the company operating Chelmsford had gone into administration, we worked round the clock to do all we could to make sure the Thursday and Friday fixtures went ahead. This included with stakeholders, the administrators and GMRL (Golden Mile Racing Limited), the new company which has been formed and proposed to operate the racecourse.

"We fully recognised the importance and value of these fixtures, which owners, trainers and jockeys will have been targeting for some time. It was therefore clearly appropriate for us to give as much time as possible to resolve the situation in a way that would allow the fixtures this week to go ahead. Those discussions continued well into Wednesday morning. However, ultimately the board was left in a position whereby it could not support a licence being granted to the new company.

"This was a difficult decision given our understanding of the regrettable impact on the racing community. The reasons for this decision are confidential. GMRL has 21 days from receipt of written reasons to lodge an appeal to the Licensing Committee against this decision.”

It added: "It is right that any appeal submitted by Golden Mile Racing Limited to the independent Licensing Committee must be able to proceed in the appropriate way. We will not make any further public comment regarding Golden Mile Racing Limited’s racecourse licence application or the BHA Board’s decision until the conclusion of any appeal."

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