Turf Track Rail Installed

Our turf course will become fully operational during 2022 and one important step towards that goal was completed recently with the installation of the running rails.

As you can see from the this recent video and update from our Clerk of the Course Andy Waitt, the turf track, which sits just inside the all-weather track, is now fully railed with Duralock Performance Fencing and looking fantastic.

“We’ve carried out plenty of maintenance on the track since the seed has come through, including vertidraining,” said Andy Waitt. “We’ve fertilised and cut the turf on several occasions and we have just re-vertidrained it and given it an autumn feed to set it down for the winter.”

The turf track will be given full BHA approval before any fixtures are assigned to it and there are plans to hold a trials day at Chelmsford City, which will allow trainers to give horses a racecourse gallop prior to the first official meeting on the turf.

“The BHA come in regularly to have a look and monitor the progress, and some of the BHA stewards walked the turf track recently after racing and thought it was fantastic,” Andy noted.

“The aim is to start racing on the turf next summer with the potential to have mixed meetings on the turf and all-weather. We’ll be having evening meetings under the lights which of course makes it unique in Britain. It’s very exciting.”

You can keep abreast of all the developments on the Chelmsford City turf course via our Twitter and Facebook pages or by subscribing to our YouTube channel. Stay tuned: Britain’s first floodlit turf course is on its way!