Kempton Park under threat

archie said:
http://www.attheraces.com/blogs/kevin-blake
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1 The idea that the JCR with its extraordinary asset values and current low interest rates has exhausted its credit is laughable in the extreme . If this is the case one has to wonder about the supposedly splendid financial management of JCR .

2 It is not a question of heart and head . The purpose of RHT and now JCR was to preserve racecourses from being sold for development not to do so . I should like to see when the objects of RHT were changed to the " good of racing " it is notable that Bazalgette has only referred to the Royal Charter but has been utterly silent on the trust instruments . It is a question of breach of trust

3 Kempton will not raise £500 million - it is a £100 million part of a £500 million plan apparently - I suspect to finance the new and entirely unnecessary Newmarket AW track . It takes an hour to get to Chelmsford . There are no AW tracks west of Wolverhampton - the idea East Anglia needs two beggars belief .

4 It has to be remembered that the JC is based in Newmarket and seems very much biased towards it compared to elsewhere .

5 This is not an isolated incident . JCR have form . The desecration of the old flat course at Kempton , the destruction of the NH course at Haydock , the closure of Nottingham's jumps track , the closure of Warwick's flat track because they would not pay to camber the bend … The point is as Jim McGrath pointed out on twitter . JCR is now run by accountants and not by people with a background in racing .

6 Kempton is not some gaff track like Folkestone . It is a Grade 1 track hosting the second most important staying Grade 1 chase in the whole calendar . JCR have engaged in a cynical exercise to run the place down otherwise so it can be presented as a place nowhere will really miss .

As David Johnson also formerly of this parish said in response to Ruby Walsh's hardly surprising money centred approach - do those proposing its demolition really not think the rest of us do not understand the argument that £100 million will be useful to a racecourse group . If one approaches it on that basis and on the basis that London really isn't interested in horse racing then they should surely close Sandown Park and build houses there too in Esher .

What is striking is that - Nicholls, Henderson, Tizzard and KIng are against it and so is Willie Mullins - five people who really ought to know about the different demands on a racehorse of different types of track .
 
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An excellent piece by Lee Mottershead in yesterday's RP who drew attention to the extraordinary hypocrisy of the Jockey Club in their opposition to Lord Derby's proposals to build homes at Newmarket .The reasons they give being the very same that they ignore in favour of financial advantage at Kempton.
 
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Good piece but I don't agree with Sandown needing updating/new grandstand. It's my favourite track and I think it is fine as it is. Every time they 'upgrade' any where they completely ruin the 'ordinary race goers' experience. Most of Ascot is like an NCP car park, you're not allowed to walk across the horse walk under the tunnel any more, and the view from ground level lower part of the stands is rubbish. Don't even get me started on 'picnic area' by the rail for the King George and Queen Elizabeth..................
Kempton was 'doomed' the minute they ripped out the turf flat track, and it does seem that it has been deliberately run down.
 
Ardross said:
An excellent piece by Lee Mottershead in yesterday's RP who drew attention to the extraordinary hypocrisy of the Jockey Club in their opposition to Lord Derby's proposals to build homes at Newmarket .The reasons they give being the very same that they ignore in favour of financial advantage at Kempton.
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Likewise the Newmarket trainers which I pointed out on this thread a few days ago. Nimbyism isn't in it! And what I can't understand is there really is a shortage of affordable housing in Newmarket - i.e. houses that stable staff can afford to buy or rent NOT professionals living down the road in Cambridge. So why on earth can't they allow the planning on what is essentially a pretty crappy piece of land near the A14 junction and Tescos? I can understand them not wanting to build on the sacred gallops - oh wait! They're going to do that with a new AW racecourse! Mmm? How does that work then?
 
Build it and they will come! Really, to an AW in Newmarket. where most of the races will need to be betting fodder. If there has to be a new AW course should it not be where people attend. The bookies need the Aw for when the weather is poor. Trolling out to Newmarket on a wet Thursday night for sand racing in November. Is that a development that will help the future of the sport.
If Kempton has to be consigned to the past let it be to fund a sound development for the future not a convenience for wealthy Newmarket trainers.
 
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The same issue with Racing is the same issue with everything in this country. Its all based in one area. Its staggering how many tracks are within a taxi journey. But that is where the money is and that is where the prize money is also. The north bar Musselburgh has become nothing more than flapping tracks but horses still cost the same to keep in training up here. National hunt is becoming so diluted that we now only get a handfull of races that people look forward to. There needs to be regional championships to bring more horses and better horses to other tracks. The programme is a mess. If you miss a race in Jan for a horse you often have to wait weeks to find another race for that horse. Then they chuck in a limited handicap chase in carlisle and people wonder why 4 horses turn up. Also if you run a horse in a decent race he gets battered by the HC.... ignore that run unless the horse is involved in the finish. Don't chuck him up 10lbs coz he was 10 L behind a 140 horse. The sport cannot be moved by bookies and what they want (40 races per day - 5 mins between). We will end up with nothing but sand racing and very few people actually on the course. And before Grassy chips in I know Cheltenham will survive but there has to be more outside of that...and that is slowly and surely drifting off.
 
Maruco said:
The problem being of course that Ascot isn't a JCE course. I'm not certain of the rules here, but I don't think JCE are automatically entitled to keep the race, and it gets reviewed. Someone with better knowledge than me can probably confirm? I hope so, and I also hope JCE get what they deserve if this goes through.
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Ascot/took/the/Champion/Stakes/from/Newmarket/which/is/a/JCR/course.I/appreciate/there/was/a/quid/pro/quo/with/the/2yo/races/that/doesn't/apply/here/though.

Apologies/for/weird/typing,my/space/bar/is/f*cked.
 
Brothers, David and Adrian Dent who many will recognise from their art on sale at the Cheltenham Festival have been very focused on this, setting up a website and bringing in legal help to explore any holes in the JC argument. Turns out there are plenty and this further development involving MPs is down to them too.
 
Sir Alan Meale digging out his old question on the JC . I think there are serous issues about the RHT holdings and who paid for them .
 
Jockey Club rubbishes 'inaccurate' report of possible reprieve

Scott Burton, Racing Post, 17 Feb 2017

Jockey Club Racecourses has issued the strongest denial that any change is being considered to its proposal to sell Kempton Park for the purpose of building 3,000 new homes.
A story appeared in The Times on Friday morning which suggested that an alternative proposal was under consideration, one which would involve the sale of the eastern portion of the site but spare the area occupied by the racecourse.
The report, which contained no direct quotes, spoke of concern within JCR that the plan to sell the entire site for £100 million was in danger of failing at the planning level and that a less ambitious development of 1,200 homes would have a better chance of gaining the necessary approval.

But a Jockey Club statement said: "Nothing has changed since The Jockey Club announced on 10th January the submission of our full estate at Kempton Park for consideration in Spelthorne Borough Council's Local Plan.
"Any suggestion to the contrary is inaccurate. We now await the outcome of Spelthorne's Local Plan Review process."

Last week Spelthorne council leader Ian Harvey reiterated his vehement opposition to the plan, which will not only mean the end of racing at Kempton but the loss of Green Belt land.
In introducing the government's recent planning white paper in the House of Commons, communities secretary Sajid Javid said that Green Belt would only be given over to developers in "exceptional circumstance."
 
Grey said:
Last week Spelthorne council leader Ian Harvey reiterated his vehement opposition to the plan, which will not only mean the end of racing at Kempton but the loss of Green Belt land.
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Living as I do in a county where the councilors are quite happy to grant housing, mining, deforestation, anything you like really as long as you make a percentage contribution to the "Community Fund", on a World Heritage Site, I find this point of view quite refreshing.
 
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Looking at the festival performances last week and as put up elsewhere it strikes me that if the racing folk want to save this racecourse by showing the importance of the king George festival in the Winter calendar they could target the races there with the most suitable horses ;
Might Bite
Un De Sceaux
Djakadam
Sizing John
etc.
All horses with real speed that would thrill a Festive crowd with their athleticism .
The bookmaker firms could add hefty bonuses to all the rated races for Festival Follow ups and the sport would benefit.
 
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