Race type - Flat
Chelmsford City
Course details
Lingfield may not be so 'leafy' now most of the trees have been chopped down to make way for the all-weather track, but it's still an important National Hunt venue and the standard of horses competing tends to be above average.
GUIDE - For Racecourse
All-Weather Polytrack, left-handed.
Chelmsford City, formerly Great Leighs, staged its first meeting on January 11 2015 and is set to become a regular feature for British punters, having secured 58 fixtures for the calendar year. Previously open for just nine months under different management, the first meeting was attended by a crowd of just 800 ticket holders after the new owners Betfred decided on a soft launch. That was a huge success and the paying public have been in attendance since February 1. Facilities for racegoers at the Essex venue used to be very poor and there is still no grandstand, but the old weighing room facility on the inside of the course has been replaced by a new state-of-the-art building offering food, drink and betting facilities in surroundings that have been described as “sumptuous.” Eventually, there will be proper grandstand on the outside of the course, so the home straight will be the nearest thing racing has to Formula One, with crowds cheering from both sides of the track. As for the track itself, there was never any problem with the surface and nothing has changed there, although jockeys reported more kickback than they were expecting at the early meetings. Given the track's proximity to the big training establishments at Newmarket and with the new owners determined to maintain above average levels of prize money, there is unlikely to be a shortage of runners.
Track / Draw Bias
A very significant bias used to exist here on account of the old watering system, which was badly affected by the breeze. However, that has been eradicated to a large extent by the introduction of a brand new watering system and any biases these days are far less predictable,
Principal Races
Most All-Weather racing consists of low-grade, Class 6 or 7 contests but that will not be the approach at Chelmsford City. The new management are already speaking to race-planning with a view to staging “black-type racing” in 2016, with even Group 2s or Group 1s possible.
Course Characteristics
Of the five British All-Weather tracks, Chelmsford City has to be seen as one of the fairest in terms of configuration as it's a true oval with two 2f graduated, wide bends, suiting even the longest-striding horse. There are two roughly 2f straights, with separate chutes for the starts of 7f, 1m and 2m races. In common with other oval courses, an inside draw is favourable for the simple reason that horses in this position race the shortest way around. At the old Great Leighs, the draw bias was most pronounced in sprints and in particular over 5f. Nine of the 46 berthed in stalls one or two over this distance hit the target for a chunky £1 level-stakes profit of £37.43 and, while it's early days at the new venue, a similar pattern may well emerge. Another way of profiting from this is to make a record of those horses who perform well from wide (high) draws) in Chelmsford sprints with a view to backing them next time out. Previously, horses ridden prominently accounted for a bigger proportion of winners than you would have predicted based on their representation at all distances, and early indications are that such horses will continue to thrive. Indeed, the high kickback, which has been a feature since the track reopened but will die down eventually, gives those horses racing closest to the pace a big advantage.
Top Trainers
The 'Top Trainers' table for Great Leighs was dominated by Newmarket-based trainers and three of them - John Gosden, William Haggas and Clive Brittain - showed a £1 level-stakes profit. The first two in particular should continue to be successful but a number of different Newmarket trainers have emerged since the track closed in 2009, or now have much deeper resources, and they can be expected to ascend the course trainer standings in the coming months. In particular, it could be worth following Roger Varian, who took over the licence at Kremlin House Stables from the late Michael Jarvis in early 2011. Jarvis had a terrific strike-rate here (5-9, 26%) and Varian could follow in his footsteps.
Top Jockeys
Two jockeys who will be itching to get return are Jamie Spencer and Ryan Moore. In the track's first spell, these pair stood out from the rest, with Spencer registering the most winners – 23 from 90 rides – and Moore boasting the best strike-rate – 31 per cent – of those jockeys who competed regularly. Spencer recently abandoned plans to retire and will be continuing as a freelance so expect him to ride winners for plenty of different trainers. Adam Kirby struggled to ride winners in comparison but he's made significant progress in the intervening period, posting more than a century of winners at each of Lingfield, Kempton and Wolverhampton in the past five seasons. It's hard to think of a reason why he shouldn't prosper here too.