Not to be confused with the long-since-defunct Galleywood Racecourse, a.k.a. Chelmsford Racecourse, on Galleywood Common in Chelmsford, Essex, which staged its last meeting in 1935, the newest racecourse in Britain is, in fact, Chelmsford City Racecourse. Despite the name, the racecourse is actually situated in Great Leighs, halfway between Chelmsford and Braintree and nearly ten miles north of Chelmsford itself.
Indeed, in its original, short-lived incarnation, which lasted just eight months, Chelmsford City Racecourse was known as Great Leighs Racecourse. A left-handed, Polytrack circuit, originally built by local entrepreneur John Holmes, Great Leighs Racecourse opened, to considerable acclaim, as the first all-new course on British soil since Taunton in 1927, in April 2008. However, it staged its final card in January 2009, closed and went into adminstration with debts of £25 million.
The course and facilities were mothballed, with a view to reopening at some point, but it was not until January 2015, following multimillion pound investment, that Chelmsford City Racecourse was ready to rise from the ashes of its doomed predecessor. The first, trial meeting, staged in front of an audience of 800 invited guests, took place on January 11, 2015, but Chelmsford City has since gone from strength to strength. Indeed, as a fully-floodlit, all-weather venue, it is one of the buisiest racecourses in the country. Seasonal highlights include the Chelmer Fillies’ Stakes, run over six furlongs in late April or early May, and the Queen Charlotte Fillies’ Stakes, run over sevn furlongs in July.