Punters welcome return of horse racing to track

Punters at a racecourse's first meeting in several months said they were pleased to see it open again under new management.

There had been no events at Chelmsford City Racecourse since its previous tenant went into administration in March with debts of more than £22m.

Arena Racing Company (ARC) took over the running of the track at Great Leighs, north of Chelmsford, and an Autumn Evening Flat Racing card was held there on Monday night.

ARC runs 16 other courses, and its chief executive Martin Cruddace said the track was "economically viable" but a lot was riding on local support.

Katie Stevenson, who lives about 25 minutes away from the course, was "really pleased" it had returned.

"I absolutely adore my racing, I go all over the country, so to come back and be able to come here is great," she said.

"It's a nice little course, nice to see it being used again.

"You do get good trainers, you get a lot of the Newmarket trainers come down because they like putting their inexperienced ones out and quite often you get debutants."

Tina Humphreys, from Essex, said it was good to see the horses again as the track was close to her home and she and her husband always used to "come quite often".

"ARC are quite a big company, they've got it right in other places, so I think it's possible to get it right here."

Cruddace was cautiously optimistic about the track's future.

"There's no reason why it cannot be a success and we're looking forward to working with the team here to try and ensure that happens.

"It is economically viable, but it's pretty on-the-edge sometimes.

"A lot depends upon how much we can get the community and the corporate business to use the racecourse as a venue, and a lot depends upon gambling regulations, so we have a number of issues that we always have to face."

At the moment betting companies Ladbrokes and Coral are not showing the races or taking bets, but he said ARC was working on a resolution.

Charlie Wallis, a trainer from Ardleigh, near Colchester, said he had had success on Monday night with a horse that came in second.

"We've had a lot of luck here and it's a great fair track, it's fantastic to have it back.

"We can work horses here and we do go to Lingfield, Kempston and Wolverhampton, but it is just so much nicer getting home from here."

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