Leighs Opening Delayed

Great Leighs have confirmed plans to stage their first meeting at the new venue in February next year.

The track was due to launch this October, but the opening has been delayed after a planning issue forced developers to switch the position of the race-day stables, weighing room, paddock and short-term spectator infrastructure.

John Holmes, chairman of Great Leighs Racing, explained: 'It has been a painful decision, and we have worked 24/7 to reinvent the track and its business plan for start-up over the past few months.

'I want to be back in the driving seat. In scrambling to meet contrived deadlines with this new scenario, we would have given all the wrong messages about a project with world-class ambitions.

'There's just one small window to shoehorn any brand new track into the following year's racing calendar. Though devised in good faith, the process had no contingency for unforeseen setbacks.

'I am grateful to the racing authorities for co-operating with all these revisions.'

Great Leighs, the first new racecourse to be built in 80 years, will stage 51 fixtures from February 22 preceded by an open day on February 13.

The track's decision to delay its racing debut means 26 fixtures are up for grabs between November 9 and February 1 as Great Leighs had already been allotted those fixtures by the British Horseracing Board.

BHB acting chief executive Chris Brand said: 'It is clear that development on the site has been much slower than anticipated, and the resulting disruption and uncertainty in the fixture list has been unwelcome.

'We look forward to Great Leighs making substantial progress over the coming months in order to achieve their revised deadline.

'We will continue to keep in close contact with John Holmes and his team, and in the meantime will make the necessary arrangements to auction Great Leighs' fixtures up to and including February 1, 2007.'

(C) PA Sport