Built on the site of the former Essex County Showground, just north of the village of Great Leighs in the City of Chelmsford district of Essex, Great Leighs Racecourse was the first new racecourse in Britain for 81 years when it fully opened to the public for the first time on May 28, 2008. However, having already missed its original opening date by 18 months, due to a series of delays, Great Leighs was beset by financial problems and staged its final fixture on January 15, 2009.
Great Leighs had been operating under a series of temporary licences but, reportedly motivated by concerns about financial viability, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) declined an application for a further licence and the racecourse went into adminstration just eight months after its first fixture.. The following year, course chairman John Holmes was declared bankrupt, owing £25 million, and had two properties repossessed by Chelmsford County Court.
In December, 2013, news emerged that the hitherto ‘mothballed’ racecourse had been taken over by Great Leighs Estates Limited, a consortium led by Fred Done, owner of bookmaker Betfred, and renamed Chelmsford City. In its new guise, Chelmsford City Racecourse was granted permission to enter the fixture allocation process for 2015 by the BHA and was duly awarded 58 fixtures, the first of which, fully open to the public, was staged on February 1, 2015.
Following initial criticism regarding ‘kickback’ – that is, dislodged track surface flying into the faces of trailing horses – the Polytrack surface was rewaxed, at a cost of £200,000, and Chelmsford City has continued to flourish ever since. In 2023, the course was allocated 45 afternoon, evening and floodlit fixtures throughout the year, with seasonal highlights including the Cardinal Stakes, the Queen Charlotte Stakes and the Weatherbys Chelmsford City Cup.