Great Leighs Opening Delayed

The opening of Britain's first new racecourse in over 80 years has been further delayed following a visit from the BHA inspection team today.

The new course had hoped to open on 24th February.

However following the inspection there are still some outstanding issues to be addressed.

The outstanding issues include, completion of the laying of the Polytrack surface and the installation of some key integrity systems.

Seven fixtures have now been handed back to the BHA and they will be auctioned to other courses next Monday.

A further inspection of the course is planned for 21st January. Should this inspection prove successful then it is hoped the opening meeting will be staged on 18th March.

The track, near Chelmsford, has been dogged with problems during construction and was originally scheduled to open in October 2006.

Last updated 15:43 4th January 2008