It is with great regret that, due to unforeseen circumstances, the Easter Festival scheduled for Thursday and Friday will no longer go ahead as planned.
This is deeply disappointing for all involved. The festival was set to feature over £300,000 in prize money, shared among declared 123 horses from both top domestic and international yards, with more than 8,000 attendees, broadcast live on ITV across the two days.
This decision has been made solely at the discretion of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).
The situation follows Chelmsford City Racecourse preparing to operate under a newly licensed entity as part of routine restructuring. The BHA had previously outlined a four-point criteria that needed to be satisfied for the licence transfer to proceed, criteria which were fully met.
However, at 12:00pm on Monday, the BHA reversed its position, disregarding its own stated licensing objectives and introducing new challenges with extremely limited time for response. Yesterday, it was confirmed that it was the BHA’s desire to abandon the fixtures, with no supporting rationale provided, and despite every effort from the racecourse and its partners, this morning this was formally confirmed.
Despite the clear significance of this festival to racegoers, horsemen, the local community, partners, and broadcasters, the BHA board has chosen to proceed with this course of action. No concerns have been raised regarding performance, capability, safety, or the quality of the racecourse, and no further explanation has been given.
Chelmsford City Racecourse will be appealing this decision and remains committed to its role as a key contributor to British racing, consistently delivering strong attendances and hosting high-value competition.
We are working to resume racing as soon as possible to minimise disruption to fans, participants, and stakeholders.
We would like to sincerely thank all racegoers, participants, partners, and suppliers for the preparations they have made for this week’s festival.
Despite the cancellation of racing, Chelmsford City Racecourse is committed to ensuring the community still has something to celebrate this Easter. We will be opening our doors on Friday and staging the full programme of family-friendly entertainment, completely free of charge, for everyone to enjoy. We want as many local families as possible to come along and make the most of what promises to be a fantastic day out.
Full refunds will of course be available for all customers who had purchased tickets for the racing. Details will be shared shortly, and all ticket holders will be contacted directly with updates.
