Kempton Park R.I.P?

I went last week, poor attendances on the whole. It's a huge area of land, and with the planning rules due to be relaxed the JC will get a small fortune for it. I think they were talking about £100million a few years ago, you could probably at least double that now.

The barstewards reckon the overseeing of the Kempton sale is one of the reasons why Dido Harding was brought in.

With test and trace she made a lot of people very wealthy, the JC thought we want some of that.

They also said Gordon Elliott is an underacheiever ffs.

Given he looked at one point to be the one to challenge the dominance of Willie Mullins, perhaps presently he is?

2 to 3 years ago, it seemed Gordon was on his way to surpass Willie....a few knocks in the road since then. Some self inflicted.

One bad Season doe not make him an underacheiever.

I would say he is the complete oposite of an underacheiever,

Who is saying Gordon is an underachiever?

The Barstooards.

The barstooards are talking tripe. They know nothing except talking for the bookies, and self-publicists. Otherwise, they'd not be talking in public, but putting the bookies' money where their mouth is.

Talk is cheap, action and result are principled and rewarding.

Just my humble opinion but a reason Elliot has not gone on these past few years is maybe the type of horse his main owners are buying, they seem to buy the expensive PP winners which are gunned to the max and dont seem to go on when in trainig with him, appearing slow and one paced, he doesnt seem to go ror the french bred type as Mullins does.
Of course he will get some goodens but not the amount he should when you look at the numbers he is supplied with.

i like kempton and also the wildlife sanctuary it sits on, which would be destroyed. ive already threatened to blow up the jokey club if this happens. it is a short-term solution and the cash will soon disappear á la newbury and we will looking again for the next target

dont know how anyone listens to the barstewards. its horrible vulgar nasty and stupid

i once liked elliot but the equine couch incident stopped that. vile

Talking for the bookies, I'd say they do the complete opposite to that.

Elliott isn't getting the results he used to that's for sure

Agree. I have a friend who went to Elliott to try and learn some trade craft and his opinion was same as previous posters. Not a pleasant man.

Though one shouldn't be surprised as someone who poses for selfies while sitting on dead horse isn't going to be the most refined character..

Lets be fair.
Gordon E has done famously well since an assistant at M pipe's, wasnt it..
The incident to which Mitolo refers was unfortunate & I think its pretty much well known that the offending photo was released onto social media by certain parties known to him who were unhappy.
It was of course unforgivable but as the good book says, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. And I think we have all done things of which we may not reflect with any pride.

I thought with the planned 3rd runway at Heathrow that would finish of any possibility of more large scale building taking place in the area as only a few years ago they announced aw at Newmarket and land sold at kempton.

I hope Kempton stays open. I used to like the racing on the grass there back in the day. Not a bad NH course either.

the pressure to build on everything everywhere in london and its environs is relentless and will never be satisfied

the place is full. proper full. every scrap of land is gobbled up and tiny poor quallity flats are knocked up. its unsustainable but nobody has the cobblers to call a halt

if i walk into town i pass thousands of houses converted into 1 beds/bedsits. street after street, and they even lob pre-fabs on top of existing blocks, such is the demand

many popular tourist spots have resorted to restricting numbers, as the infrastructure cant cope. nobody thinks this odd, but say the same about laundon, with big brass knobs on, and you are howled down its crazy and unless you are a multi its impossible to get even a toehold on the property ladder

anyone doing a modestly paid job is condemned to renting small flats for life. it aint right

i could move on to the fact that subsidised low-coat housing is massively skewed in favour of certain minorities, but ive thought better of it as the 'debate' would take a right turn

I have thought for a while jcr would have to sell a course but I had Warwick as favourite due to site it’s on

impossible123 17 Mar 25 13:25 

Talk is cheap, action and result are principled and rewarding.

Didn't you make a solemn pledge never to back a Shake MaHostage horse again, after some article about Queen Latifah in the news, and then a couple of weeks later bet Coroebus in the SJP?

jimnast, the barstewards thought Leicester would be the first one to be sold.

Leicester does struggle George mainly due to how far out of town it is and the residents of the city however there ladies day gets a huge crowd .

They should do away with national hunt racing there and just have more flat fixtures that might help the financial side.

For as long as I can remember Redcar has been rumoured to be next.

Gordon has just had 3 winnners at D.R and 1 at Wexford...yes I suppose ye are right a underachiver...

I will be sorry to see Kempton close, I enjoy the good quality AW maiden and novice events. The Wednesday nights are very enjoyable and because they are so sparsely attended most people talk to one another, it is like a club of hard core regulars.
I did hear that Chelmsford will get a lot of their fixtures, the Newmarket trainers will like that as no M25 travel involved

Where will the run the king George ?

1 from 28 at Cheltenham, workrider

So had Nicholls and that cost 770,000..

Newbury Jimnast ?

Sandown or AScot
Sandown Favourite

Sandown might get it.One Man won there one year.

Can't get my head around losing Kempton its the home of the K.G..doubt anywhere else can replace it..

Possibly workrider but that’s not a jcr track you would have to think aintree who race Boxing Day and is jcr was there more likely also easier for the Irish horses to get to,my own preference which won’t happen is a 3 day ascot fixture at Christmas like you have leopardstown we don’t have enough decent horses to have 4 days .

It’s been ran at sandown in recent years one man and kicking king but running it there could ruin horses for the rest of the season.

Mr c

Do you think ascot would give up there pre Christmas fixture to race on Boxing Day or do you think the king George would be run before Christmas?

I think that the KG  should be run on a RH track, so Ascot or Sandown.

Another winner for that poor trainer thats 4 at the track today..

Ascot isn't owned by The jockey Club. Sandown is.

That’s correct salmon but as mr c pointed out Chelmsford will get plenty of the aw fixtures ,jcr are skint and tracks pay a lot of money to buy fixtures.

If you hang a left out of the track it's one of the nicest places to live in the country. Go towards Feltham direction, not so much. It's obviously a great spot with close access to Richmond, Twickenham, Chiswick, the airport and m25. If it is developed, would be interesting to see how they play it. It's a bit far away from the river to be super prime location.

If anyone goes to the track on a nice day, it's well worth taking a stroll down The Avenue to see how the other half live, and grab a pint on the river bank.

Jimnast not sure about Ascot, I think it will be run on the 26th wherever that may be. I think Sandown will get it but  It will be a very different race

Will be run at Ascot they have been talking about a Xmas festival there for the last 5 years, KG, Xmas hurdle, Ladbroke Hcap, silver cup and others would make it better than whats on now imop.

my recollection when this was last in the news was that the local council had did not require any more houses to be built in their area and that they encouraged the racecourse to stay in situ as a local amenity. That may have changed as a result of new government imperatives of course. There was also the declined planning permission for Sandown a while back which, I think, had some connection with Kempton. What is for sure is that a sale of part of the track is perfectly possible. The bit that was the start of the Jubilee Course is a good 4f long and a good distance wide with access to the road that runs around the course and on to Hampton etc. The JC could sell that and no racegoer would notice. It may be the solution. I cannot see how the infrastructure there now or envisaged could support the whole site being converted to houses.

DP, I thought that would be the plan after the AW was installed, the site starts from miles away from the main track.
I expect the JC have heard the planning permission will now be granted by Spelthorne council, who it's been announced are £1billion in debt.

10 years ago you'd say the site was perfect for a Wembley style development. If you live in Sunbury there's nothing close really. Hard to know in the post lockdown world but surely restaurants and hotels would be a massive attraction, it needs a big supermarket plus obviously some housing. I suspect you'd need a trunk road from the 316 to skip existing local traffic infrastructure. It could also do big box I suppose, distribution. So lots of new jobs too.

The first time I went out with my now wife, I took her to Kempton races. I knew how to impress

you sure do Brian, I took a first date to Wimbledon dogs!

They recently spent money extending the owners and trainers by about 20% , Why spend if closing?

Swiftynifty: Wimbledon was our second.

Yes mr c it would be a totally different race at sandown ,ascot make a lot of money from hospitality and Christmas parties at there two day fixture the weekend before Christmas,hopefully between themselves and the bha they could sort out a 3 day fixture starting Boxing Day uk national hunt needs a fixture like that ,when the Dublin festival started other tracks gave things up for the good of racing highly unlikely here unfortunately but a race like the challow hurdle along with the races cropsick suggested plus the wayward lad ,desert orchid and the mares race ran at kempton,a pertemps qualifier,long walk,put a few maidens on there would be no better place to have a 3 day Christmas festival than ascot .

Unfortunately and it would suit me geographically my guess is aintree .

Spelthorne Borough Council opposed last time, but maybe out manoeuvred by central government this time around. There was talk of a smaller development in 2020 which would allow racing to continue.

I can black cat you both I took my wife to CLEVELAND PARK DOGS  [Ronnie sails track ] on an early date ands bad omen  for kempton it closed shortly afterwards

3 day xmas festival at ascot would be fantastic bring it on

It’s needed Celtic for plenty of reasons

Would be a great loss to the sport if Kempton closes. The NH track rewards athletic brilliance in a way that no other track does. Thats why the list of King George winners is so strong. Sandown is an utterly different proposition on December ground.

Have any of you heard a peep from a single trainer or any industry professional in regards to this subject? Tbh I have not been fully engaged this month but would have thought there would have been at at least a few comments from such if it was true, heard nothing from anyone I know within the industry.

In fact a couple asking if I was winding them up given the source?

^hear hear

get out of the way tobes

No worries mitolo, continue your worship of the OP and source at your convenience!!

to be fair its basically surviving not even for one day a yr,but one race a yr

Leicester can't be far behind closing, give that a year at the most.