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10 Jan 17
12:36
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JCR plan alternative use of their ££££
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The UK is unique to racing around the world, it is one of the few to take a stand against any sort of Tote monopoly, I wonder if that is the reason for its debt?
an industry exchange could work over here
a tote monopoly would be a disaster
people forget that racing in places like the US is largely funded by the FOBTs at the track
look at the pools at some of the tracks there is barely 4 figures in them
a tote monopoly would be a disaster
people forget that racing in places like the US is largely funded by the FOBTs at the track
look at the pools at some of the tracks there is barely 4 figures in them
Is Kempton Park failing commercially?
Quite the opposite – Kempton Park is a highly profitable racecourse.
taken from the JC web site.
I've not seen the article about JC debt however I would expect it to be substantial owing to the redevelopment of Cheltenham ;a project which they funded from bonds issued to subscribers including myself and which are due for repayment in 2018.
Quite the opposite – Kempton Park is a highly profitable racecourse.
taken from the JC web site.
I've not seen the article about JC debt however I would expect it to be substantial owing to the redevelopment of Cheltenham ;a project which they funded from bonds issued to subscribers including myself and which are due for repayment in 2018.
Unfortunately the racing authorities missed a golden chance of taking over the tote and converting it to an exchange.
But such a move would have been far too enterprising for those sort of people and they sold it to a bookmaker instead.
All profits could have then been retained within the industry.
But such a move would have been far too enterprising for those sort of people and they sold it to a bookmaker instead.
All profits could have then been retained within the industry.
We get more people at Taunton on a Wednesday (me included today) than most French tracks get for a Group 1 race. The Tierce might generate a lot of money but that is equivalent to our lottery, not the Tote. Selling the Tote to Betfred was not a sensible decision but the old Tote never did anything to attract serious punters to use it.
If racing really wanted to flourish the powers that be should copy Hong Kong where even a class5 race has prize money of £66000 at current exchange rates.
It is quite extraordinary how of all the major racing nations in the world - British racing remains the only jurisdiction has haughtily overlooks the reason the need to address this problem.
For all those feeling sad and morose at the prospect of Kempton's proposed closure why don't we ask ourselves a simple question - How come racing seems to be thriving in the Far East, Australia, USA, France.....etc but yet British racing is beste with stagnant and deplorable prizemoney and the imminent closure of long-standing racecourses.
The idiocy doesn't stop at the laughable levels of prize money. The division of prize money beggars belief. As a random example, the division of prizemoney for Royal Ascot's St James's Palace Stakes is as follows:
Winner - £226,840
2nd - £86,000
3rd - £43,040
4th - 21,440
5th - 10,760
It is quite extraordinary that a race like the St. James's Palace for instance (which I confess fares better than most other races) - which is meant to be one of the highlights of the flat season has this sort of prize level. The division of money is even more ridiculous, when you consider a head or a nose could easily seperate 1st & 2nd. The coup de grace however, if all of the above wasn't bad enough you subsequently have to pay VAT of 20% on all prize money. If you are fortunate enough to own a reasonable horse and someone comes along to buy it off you, you also have to pay VAT on any of the proceeds. All in all, it makes you wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to own and race horses in Britain if it weren't for the historical prestige.
As Del Boy would say - only fools & 'orses!
For all those feeling sad and morose at the prospect of Kempton's proposed closure why don't we ask ourselves a simple question - How come racing seems to be thriving in the Far East, Australia, USA, France.....etc but yet British racing is beste with stagnant and deplorable prizemoney and the imminent closure of long-standing racecourses.
The idiocy doesn't stop at the laughable levels of prize money. The division of prize money beggars belief. As a random example, the division of prizemoney for Royal Ascot's St James's Palace Stakes is as follows:
Winner - £226,840
2nd - £86,000
3rd - £43,040
4th - 21,440
5th - 10,760
It is quite extraordinary that a race like the St. James's Palace for instance (which I confess fares better than most other races) - which is meant to be one of the highlights of the flat season has this sort of prize level. The division of money is even more ridiculous, when you consider a head or a nose could easily seperate 1st & 2nd. The coup de grace however, if all of the above wasn't bad enough you subsequently have to pay VAT of 20% on all prize money. If you are fortunate enough to own a reasonable horse and someone comes along to buy it off you, you also have to pay VAT on any of the proceeds. All in all, it makes you wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to own and race horses in Britain if it weren't for the historical prestige.
As Del Boy would say - only fools & 'orses!
the way this has been reported so far is that it is a done deal with a supportive council
it seems that this is the not the case at all, in fact a spokesman for the council has gone on record as being opposed to development on greenbelt land
interesting
it seems that this is the not the case at all, in fact a spokesman for the council has gone on record as being opposed to development on greenbelt land
interesting
http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/incoming/kempton-park-redevelopment-spelthorne-bo...
so £33,333 per plot - [£100million divided by 3000 homes]
they seem cheap plots for a London build?
they seem cheap plots for a London build?
They refused development plans in 69 -
1969: David Robinson, businessman and leading racehorse owner, buys the racecourse for £765,000 after outbidding the civil engineering and building firm, Taylor Woodrow. However, his grandiose schemes for development, including a leisure centre, are not approved by the planning authorities. Just over a year later he sells on to the Levy Board. Control passes to its subsidiary United Racecourses, which is already administering Sandown and Epsom
- from sportinglife Kempton article.
1969: David Robinson, businessman and leading racehorse owner, buys the racecourse for £765,000 after outbidding the civil engineering and building firm, Taylor Woodrow. However, his grandiose schemes for development, including a leisure centre, are not approved by the planning authorities. Just over a year later he sells on to the Levy Board. Control passes to its subsidiary United Racecourses, which is already administering Sandown and Epsom
- from sportinglife Kempton article.
More fast and subsidised travel links to the north and regulation on future siting of businesses perhaps...
"The property price juggernaught has become an uncontrollable beast which is wreaking havoc on communities and families. You know you have a serious problem when an individual who earns a salary of say 125k per annum can't or is having to struggle to get on the property ladder, as is the case in London
and there is jack sh1t that anybody can do about it"
"The property price juggernaught has become an uncontrollable beast which is wreaking havoc on communities and families. You know you have a serious problem when an individual who earns a salary of say 125k per annum can't or is having to struggle to get on the property ladder, as is the case in London
and there is jack sh1t that anybody can do about it"
Whistlejacket, racing is certainly not thriving in France. In my view there are a few important lessons we could learn from other countries.
1. More days consecutive racing at each track. I know that soft ground turf can be an issue on some courses but Deauville manage to race nearly every day in August, American tracks (admittedly on dirt) race for 4-6 weeks continuous etc. Do we really need as many tracks that only race for 20 days a year? The cost of moving the stalls, staff, security, big screens etc from course to course must make our racing much more expensive to stage. We have increased the average number of races per card but we are atill well below most other countries where 10 races per day are not uncommon., Again this reduces the admin. and background costs per race.
So: 16 flat courses, 5 south, 6 midlands and 5 north, most with AW and grass should be sufficient.
It will be harder to run more than 4 consecutive cards of jump racing although Irish courses often have 5 or 6.
1. More days consecutive racing at each track. I know that soft ground turf can be an issue on some courses but Deauville manage to race nearly every day in August, American tracks (admittedly on dirt) race for 4-6 weeks continuous etc. Do we really need as many tracks that only race for 20 days a year? The cost of moving the stalls, staff, security, big screens etc from course to course must make our racing much more expensive to stage. We have increased the average number of races per card but we are atill well below most other countries where 10 races per day are not uncommon., Again this reduces the admin. and background costs per race.
So: 16 flat courses, 5 south, 6 midlands and 5 north, most with AW and grass should be sufficient.
It will be harder to run more than 4 consecutive cards of jump racing although Irish courses often have 5 or 6.
I wouldn't say US racing is thriving either. Handle is plummeting, tracks are closing, media interest is waning, public perception is of a cruel sport addicted to the needle etc etc
In Europe, Italian racing might not exist in 20 years, German racing is having a wobble, Irish racing is largely dominated by one Flat trainer and one Jump trainer (Elliot aside).
Outside the Far East it's difficult to pinpoint a thriving jurisdiction.
In Europe, Italian racing might not exist in 20 years, German racing is having a wobble, Irish racing is largely dominated by one Flat trainer and one Jump trainer (Elliot aside).
Outside the Far East it's difficult to pinpoint a thriving jurisdiction.
racing is doing fine over here it seems only people on this forum who think different.
Could I temper your comment foxy with 'marketing of the product needs much improvement including a significant reduction in admission prices where appropriate' ?
Jan 12, 2017 -- 7:31AM, eric_morris wrote:
More fast and subsidised travel links to the north and regulation on future siting of businesses perhaps..."The property price juggernaught has become an uncontrollable beast which is wreaking havoc on communities and families. You know you have a serious problem when an individual who earns a salary of say 125k per annum can't or is having to struggle to get on the property ladder, as is the case in Londonand there is jack sh1t that anybody can do about it"
nice ideas eric but drops in the ocean imo
"more fast and subsidised travel links"...sadly that comes with a significant price tag as well (but to the taxpayer this time)
The taxpayer has more important considerations at the moment such as the NHS.
Yes democrat I would like to see costs come down in fairness places like York and pontefract offer a good choice and decent value but most are over the top in particular some family enclosures like Haydock and market rasen as expensive as Chester is they keep filling it as does royal Ascot and the festival so don't see any price drops at any off those,intheknow will be along soon to mention the outrageous cost at Musselburgh.
Doubt it hulk;shouldn't think anyone could afford a bed in London on that paltry salary.
You make interesting points foxy but if the trend is ever upwards in respect of admission prices, and it is, and even given the level of attendances at the likes of Royal Ascot and Cheltenham there has to become a point when the public will say enough is enough and stay away and the rececourses will have killed the goose that laid the golden egg !
At the moment democrat the race courses are getting money to easily I know that's ironic bearing in mind this thread but the fact is they are at some stage a card will slip and the lot will come down then they will make people feel more important and welcom.
I agree that smaller meetings should be cheaper but there are plenty of ways to get in free such as RUK membership, racegoers club etc. The major meetingss seem expensive until you make comparisons with other sports. Leisure and eating out are very expensive in UK but people must be paying those prices or they would soon come down.
what an incredibly short sighted interview that was by john ferguson 
People on here are saying the King George is "just one race" and those of us who are against Kempton being sold and the race moved should get over it are completely missing the point. How about Epsom, lets build on that after all the Derby is just one race (I will forget about the Oaks & Coronation Cup like the Christmas Hurdle & Feltham have been) We could run the Derby at Ascot? How about one of my local tracks, Exeter they one have "one race" and the Haldon Cup can be moved to Cheltenham or Newbury. Oh and lets not forget Wincanton, time to sell this land off and move their "only race" the Elite hurdle somewhere else.
You can't put a price on sporting history and heritage and if you're a TRUE fan of horse racing, you should be against the sale of Kempton every step of the way.
You can't put a price on sporting history and heritage and if you're a TRUE fan of horse racing, you should be against the sale of Kempton every step of the way.
there is only so much carving you can do until there is nothing left to carve
Nobody on here has yet offered odds re this proposal coming to pass or not. On reading that the Council leader and others in senior local government positions are not supportive I am beginning to think this is far from a done deal.
Democrat I will bet you a pint in the pub on the prom I am at kempton on Boxing Day 2022 weather permitting
If you promise me you wont be there helping with the foundations foxy !
Your reference to 'the prom' prompts me to ask 'What chance of housing on Yarmouth racecourse' foxy ? After all the adjacent area which used to be Members parking is now a line of bungalows.
Democrat
We all thought jcr racecourses were gilt edged to buy in at as along with Ascot and York they will be here forever now this has happened it's plain to see almost any race course can go when arc closed Folkestone and Hereford they got a lot of abuse for there reasons and stated they would close no more,now the biggest owners of race courses have said one will close it could open the floodgates for independent tracks and arc ,Kelso said after the Scottish independent vote that if it had gone the other way they would have closed ,I would say Ascot ,York,Cheltenham and Newmarket would be in no danger but 3 days ago I would have said kempton wouldn't be,to answer your original question I will be at kempton when other tracks have gone including the likes of Yarmouth.
We all thought jcr racecourses were gilt edged to buy in at as along with Ascot and York they will be here forever now this has happened it's plain to see almost any race course can go when arc closed Folkestone and Hereford they got a lot of abuse for there reasons and stated they would close no more,now the biggest owners of race courses have said one will close it could open the floodgates for independent tracks and arc ,Kelso said after the Scottish independent vote that if it had gone the other way they would have closed ,I would say Ascot ,York,Cheltenham and Newmarket would be in no danger but 3 days ago I would have said kempton wouldn't be,to answer your original question I will be at kempton when other tracks have gone including the likes of Yarmouth.
If you keep extolling Kempton's virtues foxy they'll more than likely ask you to become an Honorary Life Member and to lead the Save Our Kempton campaign ! 
be interesting to see if they invest heavily in sandown, iv'e a feeling they would sell that for housing given half a chance.
i would be very happy with the prospect of both those.by the way i would be the same with any course other than chelmsford.
knot in wood
sandown is a great race course one of the best in the world i cant think of a major change needed at sandown other than drainage.the stands may be old but they have stood the test of time and there are few race courses with such a great view either in the stands or on ground level in tatts.
sandown is a great race course one of the best in the world i cant think of a major change needed at sandown other than drainage.the stands may be old but they have stood the test of time and there are few race courses with such a great view either in the stands or on ground level in tatts.
Pubs, cinemas, bingo halls, greyhound tracks and possibly other facilities I can not recall have all been closed down in recent years because of people's interests and social habits changing. Horse racing is subject to similar pressures and needs to take a close look at itself before it is too late and to avoid the need to streamline radically in the interests of self preservation.
I wouldn't mind the project if they were replacing Kempton with a similar track ie both flat and jumps, fast, flat surface that's can produce good to soft ground during the winter. But they're not, they're replacing it with an all weather track in the middle of nowhere that will attract precisely zero new racing fans, merely shortening the commute to an AW track by about 1 hour (compared to Chelmsford) for a group of trainers, and building a racecourse casino in Chelmsford. Frankly the only person I imagine wants anything to do with a racecourse casino is Fred Done and maybe a few other parasites, who honestly looks at these soulless racecourse casinos in America and thinks that that is an example to follow? Meanwhile jumps racing gets nothing, the King George goes from a highlight of the year to just another 3 mile chase, and the Christmas Hurdle is made into a complete nothing race. Honestly who the fk wants to see the top 2 mile hurdlers slog around Sandown on heavy ground in the middle of winter?
now now foxy, don't get me all revved up over Musselburgh
But I understand it was £30 to get in on NYD. If that is correct then it is outrageous
But I understand it was £30 to get in on NYD. If that is correct then it is outrageous
i agree with you foxy,but the money men don't look at it that way.
london just expands every year with the need for more housing, the pressure to sell in the future might prove too strong.
hope i'm wrong but would not surprise me in time.
london just expands every year with the need for more housing, the pressure to sell in the future might prove too strong.
hope i'm wrong but would not surprise me in time.
customcut
i remember rooster booster winning at sandown in his champion hurdle season he looked a plodder nothing like the horse we saw at cheltenham in march.
i remember rooster booster winning at sandown in his champion hurdle season he looked a plodder nothing like the horse we saw at cheltenham in march.
it was indeed £30 intheknow might be £35 next year now the racecourse have got a taste for it.
looks like i might be going racing for the 1st time in around 25 years a week sunday- hereford.
as i said earlier on this thread nothing would surprise me after tuesdays news,theres lots i dont like about it in particular the bit about we are doing it for national hunt racing,well everyone who i know who knows anything about national hunt racing agree if they cant run the king george/christmas hurdle/feltham/dessert orchid and wayward lad chases at kempton then it must be ascot.
hereford is great knot in wood try and get there saturday the town is well worth a visit.
would be coming home in a ambulance if i went saturday as well foxy.
sorry if iv'e side tracked the thread.
sorry if iv'e side tracked the thread.
threads are for side tracking what has made you choose hereford after a 25 year gap ?
more/less local course foxy, about a hour away.
used to be a regular there years ago good viewing track far better than chepstow, jolly boys outing should be fun.
used to be a regular there years ago good viewing track far better than chepstow, jolly boys outing should be fun.
hopefully the weather is kind still a great viewing course.if the jolly boys get a chance for a pint before racing barrels is the place.
you ever had a book there foxy?
they had a champion hurdle trial there once, remember standing next to the last hurdle when gaye brief flew over..great days.
they had a champion hurdle trial there once, remember standing next to the last hurdle when gaye brief flew over..great days.
sometimes i bet there as daft as it sounds i bet if its a poor card if its a good card i just have a day out.
no delta he don't drink.it's winter ladies day i will book you a seat.
foxy, i guess no Kelso for you this Sunday even if it does miss the snow?
i never really cared for the gaff when they put the AW in, used to like the easter saturday there on the old turf track
always been surprised in 20 years following racing they only have one decent days jumping there a year
always been surprised in 20 years following racing they only have one decent days jumping there a year
not sure intheknow a lot depends on the runners/weather for wetherby,kempton and kelso.
i should stay at home really but been here all week not healthy doing nothing.
I agree,tomorrows business is useless at the best of times but tomorrow will no doubt be even worse but I guess i'll turn up for the first appearance of the year.
i should think i will go to kempton after all i cant spend the last 4 days up in arms over its possible closure and then not go.you never know might even get a members revolt going and hound anybody there from jcr.
Wetherby are inspecting at 8.am foxy, I think it will be on myself.
Foxy on the picket line at Kempton. Now there's a thought - I must make sure to watch the National news !! Yes I know, before the smarties tell me, that's run at Aintree !!! 
i think it is the wise move to sacrifice one track as long as they invest all the monies in their other tracks cos whatever the defenders of kempton say it is a two day a year track and to for go 100 million pounds for that is ridiculous
Is it **** what about the meeting in late Feb 3 gr 2s and a very good handicap chase the fixture the day after the festival the Monday in November where Albion made his chase debut.another thing the money will not be used to improve national hunt racing it will be used to keep Newmarket happy and to sort out there debts.
so none of those races mentioned above could not be run elsewhere and still be satisfactory contests and wouldnt the crowds be at least the same.
remember we are talking of at least 100 million here!!
remember we are talking of at least 100 million here!!
well we might as well close many more then as those races could also be run somewhere else why have thirsk when ripon is close by why have wincanton just run there races at taunton and so on.good card at kempton tomorrow.
i cant believe how many people have been brain washed into thinking the only racing thats any good at kempton is the christmas meeting worse still some think only boxing day is any good,the truth is meeting for meeting kempton stages better jump racing than sandown but your not allowed to think that for some reason.
Now stop it foxy - this is not a stage for putting across your anti- Sandown views ! 
love sandown democrat always have but jump racing on the whole is better at kempton.
youre not going to make 100 million shutting most tracks so that is a pointless arguement. i do lay at aw tracks but dont want more but can see a track at newmarket is realistic and probably should have been the first place to build one anyway and will certainly hit the fred done project which can only be good news
yes the chelmsford part of it is good news and yes newmarket should have had one not great leighs right from the start jcr bhb or whoever was in charge at the time messed up but dont punish national hunt racing for there mistakes.
Very good article by Tom Kerr in the RP today slating the jockey club.
foxy, entirely agree with the quality of the jumps cards outside of boxing day at Kempton, never missed a meeting for many years.
foxy, entirely agree with the quality of the jumps cards outside of boxing day at Kempton, never missed a meeting for many years.
I quite agree with foxy that people are in danger of thinking that Kempton is only a one or two day meet a year.The NH cards invariably attract good quality horses ,particularly from Lambourne and no getting away from the fact it is one of the fairest courses in the country.
I shall be there today and will be interested to gauge the views of members.Am wearing green cords if anyone wants to come up and say hello.
I shall be there today and will be interested to gauge the views of members.Am wearing green cords if anyone wants to come up and say hello.
Foxy you know the future is a streamlined product. Currently the sport is overegged with begging bowls from non profitable tracks staging egg and spoon betting shop fodder. You know this because you mention Thirsk, Ripon and I'll throw in Beverley as too much competition for the area in a sport of dwindling interest. Too many meeting have turned off seasoned punters, two a day midweek is sufficient and 4 at weekends. In the summer we could have an evening meeting every other day. Extend the cards to 8 races but the industry needs streamlining and the level of runners needs to improve and be racing to higher marks. If horses can't reach a mark of 65 then they aren't good enough to be racing, or at least betting on. All those not grading on can race each other entry monies at meeting organised by Always Trying.
good morning ph
you may be surprised but i happen to agree with most of what you say,2 meetings a day 4 at the weekends without question is the way to go ,although more on bank holidays,8 race cards yes that would be good,i would go further and other than aw racing i would have no night racing,in the winter i like the irish approach to national hunt racing they tend to race thurs/fri/sat and sunday although for some reason it nearly always seems to be dundalk on a friday,you misunderstood my point about thirsk and ripon i merely picks those at random,other than chelmsford i dont want to see any race course close.
you may be surprised but i happen to agree with most of what you say,2 meetings a day 4 at the weekends without question is the way to go ,although more on bank holidays,8 race cards yes that would be good,i would go further and other than aw racing i would have no night racing,in the winter i like the irish approach to national hunt racing they tend to race thurs/fri/sat and sunday although for some reason it nearly always seems to be dundalk on a friday,you misunderstood my point about thirsk and ripon i merely picks those at random,other than chelmsford i dont want to see any race course close.
The racing writer of the year Tom Kerr savages the Jockey Club and grasping developers in the RP ...
YOU CAN almost imagine how the grandees on the Jockey Club board convinced themselves it was a good idea to sell off one of the sport's most treasured racecourses for housing.
You can picture them sitting there, perhaps in the sumptuous Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket, the walls lined with priceless artwork, as one by one they all agreed there was simply nothing else for it, the sport needed £100 million more than it needed historic Kempton. The track had to go. For the good of racing, you understand.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Never in my years of following racing have I seen a more misguided, crude, treacherous act of vandalism, and all perpetrated by the so-called guardians of British racing.
This is gamekeeper turned poacher and the poacher has turned up at the estate with a barrel of napalm to burn the place to the ground. Each and every person associated with the decision should hang their heads in shame. How can they claim this is for the good of the sport?
The Jockey Club has framed this decision as a commercial imperative, but the financial case for closing Kempton is far from being made. It would provide £100m, maybe more, towards £500m of planned investment over the next ten years, but the Jockey Club has failed to adequately explain why it is essential to pop Kempton on the table like a poker player chucking the wife's car keys into the pot.
An all-weather track will be built in Newmarket and a plan to "transform" Sandown has been announced. If you think that is an equitable swap you're more than likely drinking your breakfast coffee in Suffolk, but what this is really about is a racecourse group unable to carry out its investment plans without cashing in one of its most valuable and profitable assets. Some will see that as pragmatic business sense but many more as evidence of a group that has lost its way.
If we do accept that a sale of something is necessary, perhaps the Jockey Club could instead look to some of its considerable non-racecourse assets, which encompass 4,500 acres of land at Newmarket, 550 acres of land at Lambourn and 90 properties, including the aforementioned Jockey Club Rooms, which turned over just £1.24m in 2015.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, the art collection that adorns the Jockey Club Rooms alone is worth tens of millions of pounds.
That is an almost priceless piece of racing's heritage, just like Kempton, but unlike Kempton it is enjoyed principally by the rich, powerful and well-connected. The Jockey Club Rooms is a private members' club. Naturally, its art was never going to go. That's not how things work in this country.
£100m for Kempton is not even a deal too good to turn down. The racecourse is worth so much more alive than dead. It sits amid the largest urban conurbation in western Europe and perhaps the richest city in history.
That means it is an irresistible prize for property developers, who would pave over Hyde Park, turn the British Museum into a Westfield shopping centre and convert the Houses of Parliament to luxury flats if they could.
That desirable location should make Kempton, with its excellent transport links, one of the sport's most prized possessions. Clearly it is underperforming: the track, while profitable and heaving on its busiest days, is frequently half-deserted.
Yet I was there in 2010 among thousands of racegoers on a Wednesday night, lured to a winter all-weather meeting by free tickets. The atmosphere was tremendous, and is it not better to have several thousand eating, betting, drinking and - most crucially - enjoying racing, than several hundred paying for entry to a graveyard? Yet regular free nights were never trialled.
It seemed sometimes as if the Jockey Club were happy enough to let Kempton rake in the millions in media rights payments rather than worry too much why it wasn't appealing more to the people on its doorstep.
And as for those people: if Kempton goes, there will be just two racecourses inside the M25, an area home to around ten million.
'We must stand up and fight'
Meanwhile, the Jockey Club proposes building a third racecourse in Newmarket, population 20,000. What a way to promote the sport.
This is not just a commercial argument, however; it is an issue that brings to mind the hoary old Wilde quip about people who know the price of everything but the value of nothing. Racecourses are about more than just numbers, whatever philistine developers and detached racing grandees believe.
A city without sport, without culture, without green spaces and relief from the sheer scale and crush of the place, is no place worth living. This is why the leader of Spelthorne council, who recognises this fundamental truth, is in the bizarre position of being the protector of Kempton against the Jockey Club and its property developer allies.
Worst of all, though, is what this means for the King George VI Chase, arguably the fairest test of chasing excellence there is. This move will, in effect, kill it as a great race. Oh yes, transfer it to Sandown, where the similarities to Kempton extend as far as having grass and fences, and it will do all right: still draw a crowd, good horses, all that.
But Kempton, as Desert Orchid's owner said this week, is unique because it rewards brilliance. Without that distinction the King George's prestige will be diminished, and what was the best chase outside of Cheltenham will become just another Grade 1.
The significance of its history will fade and in times long hence no-one will speak of the epic King George legends of yesteryear, of Kauto Star and Dessie, because the track at which they achieved their feats of wonder is all Tarmac and Tescos, their towering achievements rendered perfectly irrelevant to the future.
Eventually, many years down the line, there will just be a few old men left to carry the flicker of Kempton's past with them, to recall roaring home a great champion in the crisp cold air of Boxing Day.
What will even be left of racing in that distant future? If a track as storied and profitable as Kempton, a track we all thought was in the safest of hands, cannot avoid redevelopment then where can?
I am a believer in the need for cities to develop, to build and rejuvenate, but Kempton is not a failing business ripe for the culling or some derelict antique being kept alive for sentimental reasons. It is profitable. It is functional. It is loved. It is important to a local community and to a nationwide sport.
Even at its worst, on those bleak winter evenings with a few hundred diehards huddled in the grandstand, it offers escapism from the vast city pressing at its gates. And at its best, on those frost-tinged Boxing Days when timeless heroes were forged, it was nothing short of glorious. For sporting, civic and historical reasons, it would be an appalling error to knock it down for overpriced houses.
Yet this is the way the country is going. In London alone we stand poised to lose our last greyhound stadium, 40 per cent of music venues have shut in the past decade, dozens of historic pubs close every year. Millwall are in effect being evicted from their ground.
The cause in every case: not lack of local use, but greed. Kempton is not an outlier; it sits smack bang in the middle of a trend that says 'knock it all down and sell it to the highest bidder'. When even the Jockey Club is joining the side of the destroyers it might seem like there is little hope left, but we must stand up and fight this.
If we don't one day we may realise everything that was ever worth protecting is gone, ground to dust beneath the developers' bulldozers.
SIGN HERE IF YOU VALUE THE DIVERSITY OF BRITISH RACING :
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-closure-of-kempton-park-racecourse
YOU CAN almost imagine how the grandees on the Jockey Club board convinced themselves it was a good idea to sell off one of the sport's most treasured racecourses for housing.
You can picture them sitting there, perhaps in the sumptuous Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket, the walls lined with priceless artwork, as one by one they all agreed there was simply nothing else for it, the sport needed £100 million more than it needed historic Kempton. The track had to go. For the good of racing, you understand.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Never in my years of following racing have I seen a more misguided, crude, treacherous act of vandalism, and all perpetrated by the so-called guardians of British racing.
This is gamekeeper turned poacher and the poacher has turned up at the estate with a barrel of napalm to burn the place to the ground. Each and every person associated with the decision should hang their heads in shame. How can they claim this is for the good of the sport?
The Jockey Club has framed this decision as a commercial imperative, but the financial case for closing Kempton is far from being made. It would provide £100m, maybe more, towards £500m of planned investment over the next ten years, but the Jockey Club has failed to adequately explain why it is essential to pop Kempton on the table like a poker player chucking the wife's car keys into the pot.
An all-weather track will be built in Newmarket and a plan to "transform" Sandown has been announced. If you think that is an equitable swap you're more than likely drinking your breakfast coffee in Suffolk, but what this is really about is a racecourse group unable to carry out its investment plans without cashing in one of its most valuable and profitable assets. Some will see that as pragmatic business sense but many more as evidence of a group that has lost its way.
If we do accept that a sale of something is necessary, perhaps the Jockey Club could instead look to some of its considerable non-racecourse assets, which encompass 4,500 acres of land at Newmarket, 550 acres of land at Lambourn and 90 properties, including the aforementioned Jockey Club Rooms, which turned over just £1.24m in 2015.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, the art collection that adorns the Jockey Club Rooms alone is worth tens of millions of pounds.
That is an almost priceless piece of racing's heritage, just like Kempton, but unlike Kempton it is enjoyed principally by the rich, powerful and well-connected. The Jockey Club Rooms is a private members' club. Naturally, its art was never going to go. That's not how things work in this country.
£100m for Kempton is not even a deal too good to turn down. The racecourse is worth so much more alive than dead. It sits amid the largest urban conurbation in western Europe and perhaps the richest city in history.
That means it is an irresistible prize for property developers, who would pave over Hyde Park, turn the British Museum into a Westfield shopping centre and convert the Houses of Parliament to luxury flats if they could.
That desirable location should make Kempton, with its excellent transport links, one of the sport's most prized possessions. Clearly it is underperforming: the track, while profitable and heaving on its busiest days, is frequently half-deserted.
Yet I was there in 2010 among thousands of racegoers on a Wednesday night, lured to a winter all-weather meeting by free tickets. The atmosphere was tremendous, and is it not better to have several thousand eating, betting, drinking and - most crucially - enjoying racing, than several hundred paying for entry to a graveyard? Yet regular free nights were never trialled.
It seemed sometimes as if the Jockey Club were happy enough to let Kempton rake in the millions in media rights payments rather than worry too much why it wasn't appealing more to the people on its doorstep.
And as for those people: if Kempton goes, there will be just two racecourses inside the M25, an area home to around ten million.
'We must stand up and fight'
Meanwhile, the Jockey Club proposes building a third racecourse in Newmarket, population 20,000. What a way to promote the sport.
This is not just a commercial argument, however; it is an issue that brings to mind the hoary old Wilde quip about people who know the price of everything but the value of nothing. Racecourses are about more than just numbers, whatever philistine developers and detached racing grandees believe.
A city without sport, without culture, without green spaces and relief from the sheer scale and crush of the place, is no place worth living. This is why the leader of Spelthorne council, who recognises this fundamental truth, is in the bizarre position of being the protector of Kempton against the Jockey Club and its property developer allies.
Worst of all, though, is what this means for the King George VI Chase, arguably the fairest test of chasing excellence there is. This move will, in effect, kill it as a great race. Oh yes, transfer it to Sandown, where the similarities to Kempton extend as far as having grass and fences, and it will do all right: still draw a crowd, good horses, all that.
But Kempton, as Desert Orchid's owner said this week, is unique because it rewards brilliance. Without that distinction the King George's prestige will be diminished, and what was the best chase outside of Cheltenham will become just another Grade 1.
The significance of its history will fade and in times long hence no-one will speak of the epic King George legends of yesteryear, of Kauto Star and Dessie, because the track at which they achieved their feats of wonder is all Tarmac and Tescos, their towering achievements rendered perfectly irrelevant to the future.
Eventually, many years down the line, there will just be a few old men left to carry the flicker of Kempton's past with them, to recall roaring home a great champion in the crisp cold air of Boxing Day.
What will even be left of racing in that distant future? If a track as storied and profitable as Kempton, a track we all thought was in the safest of hands, cannot avoid redevelopment then where can?
I am a believer in the need for cities to develop, to build and rejuvenate, but Kempton is not a failing business ripe for the culling or some derelict antique being kept alive for sentimental reasons. It is profitable. It is functional. It is loved. It is important to a local community and to a nationwide sport.
Even at its worst, on those bleak winter evenings with a few hundred diehards huddled in the grandstand, it offers escapism from the vast city pressing at its gates. And at its best, on those frost-tinged Boxing Days when timeless heroes were forged, it was nothing short of glorious. For sporting, civic and historical reasons, it would be an appalling error to knock it down for overpriced houses.
Yet this is the way the country is going. In London alone we stand poised to lose our last greyhound stadium, 40 per cent of music venues have shut in the past decade, dozens of historic pubs close every year. Millwall are in effect being evicted from their ground.
The cause in every case: not lack of local use, but greed. Kempton is not an outlier; it sits smack bang in the middle of a trend that says 'knock it all down and sell it to the highest bidder'. When even the Jockey Club is joining the side of the destroyers it might seem like there is little hope left, but we must stand up and fight this.
If we don't one day we may realise everything that was ever worth protecting is gone, ground to dust beneath the developers' bulldozers.
SIGN HERE IF YOU VALUE THE DIVERSITY OF BRITISH RACING :
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-closure-of-kempton-park-racecourse
It appears that because Sandown is close geographically to Kempton moving the King George there is a seamless transition .
This of course is nonsense , the tests on the horse are very different.
How many times does a Sandown finish get decided by horses running left and right as they struggle up the hill ......far more akin to the Gold Cup than the King George.
If they are skint , perhaps just admitting it and why the family silver has to be sold would be understood........but the bluster of how on earth NH racing can be helped and improved by shutting down a jumps track and building more all weather is some story.
And as for the 'home of racing' Newmarket being polluted with sand racing .........yeuuckkk
This of course is nonsense , the tests on the horse are very different.
How many times does a Sandown finish get decided by horses running left and right as they struggle up the hill ......far more akin to the Gold Cup than the King George.
If they are skint , perhaps just admitting it and why the family silver has to be sold would be understood........but the bluster of how on earth NH racing can be helped and improved by shutting down a jumps track and building more all weather is some story.
And as for the 'home of racing' Newmarket being polluted with sand racing .........yeuuckkk
morning foxy, some have to close due to unprofitability. They are a drain with poor management, they haven't invested over the years in upgrading facilities and get even less attending nowadays. Lesser tracks can be used for pony racing or flapping to establish connections with racers of the future. Why more aw dirge? We have one decent card at Lingfield card quality wise. If I never had to study another Wolverhampton or Suvvell card it would be no loss to me. The prize money on offer surely can't be a miss to yards and lets remember the AW show performs to keep the tills ticking over on the High St. Now the shops have new focus they neither need nor I believe want the AW bandwagon. Yet the BHA or jockey club can't see the public never cottoned onto or clamoured for the AW. If we have days without racing due to weather then so what? So we agree to limit the product, minimise the meetings and maximise the runners,upgrade the level of performer and race for decent purses ( getting more triers, for fiscal attainment and to run to a level required to keep racing i.e running consistently to a mark subject to Veterinary reasons and a security officer allowing a continuance to race )
poor management will be one of the reasons jcr are in so much debt haydock in particular has been badly run.i dont mind the tracks with poor facilities like catterick ,brighton,chepstow and wetherby by the way ph i dont know if you have ever been to thurles but they have no facilities but you cant help but love the place.we have flapping at howick not sure haw many punters turn up as i have never been i know it exists as a horse named after my wife ended her racing career there.
interestingly enough as a counter to the sandown no good as a replacement the two KG contests run there were won by horses also successful at kempton and who thinks desert orchid, kauto star and thistlecrack for example would not have won sandown king georges
interestingly enough as a counter to the sandown no good as a replacement the two KG contests run there were won by horses also successful at kempton and who thinks desert orchid, kauto star and thistlecrack for example would not have won sandown king georges
Why have not those people that got 100 million in debt not been sacked?
Distraction from the truth?
Distraction from the truth?
Quite right foxy. One example I know of - I wont name the racecourse- was totally inept. Instead of getting rid he was appointed to another post. I think 'old school tie' counts for a great deal.
I might have missed it but it appears to me most racing journalists are pretty pathetic.
If you are looking at financial management and what is going on surely if the chief executive of the Jockey Club was a Trustee as listed on the Jockey Club website of a charity in liquidation this would be big news?
Is he the man to lead such a restructuring?
Who knows but you would have thought it was worth talking about.
If you are looking at financial management and what is going on surely if the chief executive of the Jockey Club was a Trustee as listed on the Jockey Club website of a charity in liquidation this would be big news?
Is he the man to lead such a restructuring?
Who knows but you would have thought it was worth talking about.
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