KEMPTON PARK TO SHUT FROM 2021

What a shame

Kempton to close as Jockey Club unveil plans

BY BILL BARBER 12:31PM 10 JAN 2017

HISTORIC Kempton Park racecourse is set to be sold for housing as part of a Jockey Club plan to spend at least £500 million on British racing over the next ten years.

The Jockey Club is to build a new floodlit all-weather course should Kempton receive approval for redevelopment, with a new site at The Links in Newmarket the planned venue.

Sandown would receive major investment as part of the plans, with the King George VI Chase set to move to the course permanently.

The plans for Kempton have been developed since Spelthorne Borough Council's recent "Call To Sites". If development was permitted the Jockey Club said it would be looking to ensure it generates at least £100m. Racing would continue there until at least 2021.

The Jockey Club would also require the new all-weather track to be operational before any changes at Kempton.

sandowns picks just increased 50% in value

as for kempton picks ~ all correspondence [once again] to your friend and mine c/o cheltenham courtyard maestro mr d white

Shame, most exciting aw track by far.

Losing the home of the Kong George and getting giddy about more all weather sewage.

And these people have the interests of racing at heart , thank goodness for that.

Only AW track i like 

htf is one less NH course in the best interests of racing ?

Plenty of tracks that should shut down.

From the Guardian.

Kempton Park racecourse in south-west London, the home of the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day, will be bulldozed for housing and its fixtures will be moved to Sandown Park and a new all-weather track in Newmarket as a result of plans unveiled by Jockey Club Racecourses, the track’s owner, on Tuesday morning.

The scheme to close Kempton in order to invest the money elsewhere in the JCR portfolio of tracks is certain to prove hugely controversial among racing fans, who cherish the sport’s heritage and the variety of racecourses that Britain can offer.


Thistlecrack recalls Desert Orchid glory days with King George Chase triumph

The King George meeting on Boxing Day is one of racing’s most traditional fixtures and the big race itself has been won by many of steeplechasing’s greatest performers, including Arkle, who ran for the last time in the 1966 King George, the four-times winner Desert Orchid and Kauto Star, who won the King George a record five times in six years between 2006 and 2001.

The JCR plans envisage a total investment of half a billion pounds in its racecourses over the next 10 years, underpinned by the sale of Kempton Park for redevelopment with up to 3,000 houses. Racing at Kempton is expected to continue until at least 2021, during which time a new all-weather track at Newmarket will be built to take over Kempton’s extensive programme of all-weather racing.

Sandown Park is also expected to receive significant investment, which JCR believes will “unlock its potential as London’s Class One dual-code racecourse on the doorstep of millions of people”.

Announcing the plans on Tuesday, Roger Weatherby, the senior steward of the Jockey Club, said that the Club “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 consider in the [council’s] Local Plan [for housing] 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 added: “If changes take place at Kempton Park in the future, we will act to secure and invest in the jumps programme nationally.

“A new purpose-built all-weather course on The Links at 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.”

Sparrow just go to Guardian and hit the sports tab it's the top story

I've copied it now, breeding.  See above.

From the Sportinglife website.


The planned £500million of investments to be made in the sport in a 10-year plan proposed by the Jockey Club would see Kempton proposed as a future redevelopment site, with a new all-weather venue to be built if that idea goes ahead.

The Jockey Club's land at The Links in Newmarket is the front-runner as the location for a new floodlit artificial track, with the King George switching to Sandown.

The Kempton estate - on which it is anticipated any future development on racecourse land would be from 2021 at the earliest, subject to a successful planning process - has been submitted for consideration following the local authority's 'Call for Sites' to address unmet local housing needs and a decision to undertake a review of its Green Belt boundaries.

The track's owner feels "these combine to provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to promote the site for new homes and local benefits, while preserving green space between the local borough and London" with the stewards of the Jockey Club believing such an outcome would be "in the best long-term interests of British racing given the benefits for horsemen and racegoers that can be created and with the Surrey community already well-served for racing".

However, the Jockey Club insist Kempton will only be redeveloped if the move will generate in excess of £100m investment and the proposed all-weather circuit at Newmarket is given the green light.

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.

"One of the ways we want to live up to that is through a series of projects that offer benefits all around the country and collectively add up to us contributing more than half a billion pounds to the sport over the next decade from its grassroots to top level.

"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.

"Horsemen and customers alike will enjoy the benefit of numerous projects nationwide that result from the record investment proposals we unveil today, which include investments at each of our racecourses and training grounds throughout the country."

The Jockey Club will request that the King George and a select amount of Kempton's jumps events be transferred to nearby Sandown.

Sandown, which is just six miles from Kempton, will be the beneficiary of a major investment itself, with plans to enhance aspects such as track drainage, further improvement of its race programme and a greater ability to market itself as London's premier dual-code racecourse.

Kempton's other jumps fixtures could be spread around other Jockey Club-owned racecourses throughout the country, although consultation with the British Horseracing Authority and the wider sport, as well as a careful review of turf capacity, would be undertaken.

Weatherby added: "If changes take place at Kempton Park in the future we will act to secure and invest in the jumps programme nationally.

"We will work with the British Horseracing Authority to seek to run some races, including the King George VI Chase, at Sandown Park. We plan to transform Sandown Park's facilities, utilise the latest advances in track technology and help bring a focus on it as London's premier dual-code racecourse right on the doorstep of millions of people, unlocking what we see as its great potential.

"Furthermore we will look to boost jump racing from its grassroots to the top-end in consultation with horsemen and the wider industry.

"This would include Kempton Park's programme being transferred to our jumps courses around the country and through investments at each track over the next decade - in all four of our regions, in the North, South West, East as well as London.

"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."

Various plans have been considered for upgrading Sandown.  The most ambitious were contingent on the sale of Kempton for redevelopment.

Racing can't afford to stand still. The loss of Kempton will see others gain.

Any planning experts on here??    Presumably the Kempton racecourse site is a "brownfield site" in planning terms given that it is largely "previously developed".  If true, this makes any housing planning decisions far far more likely and almost a done deal.  Thoughts?

wonder how much the aw track took to install..that looks a pretty poor investment now.the land being so close to london is obviously worth a fortune so seems a good long term decision. it must be said though the winter ground at sandown has become abmominal so if there are to be more meetings there a huge improvement is needed there

I used to like going to Kempton.
Never enjoyed going there since the A/W  track was put down.
Drab and dull.
Wouldnt be out of place in 1960s Eastern Europe.
I would prefer the King George to be moved to Ascot.
In terms of customer comfort a 20 000 crowd at Sandown jam packed or Ascoc 1/3 full its got to be Ascot for me.

the atmosphere at kempton on boxing day is as good as any other day in the racing calendar generations of families have spent boxing day there over the years.

True foxy. And it's  such a different race  the King George. Great stayers like Burrough Hill Lad have struggled to win. It's this variety that makes racing interesting.