Champion National Hunt trainer Paul Nicholls is the latest member of the British racing fraternity to voice his concerns over the Jockey Club's proposed closure of Kempton Park racecourse, home of the historic GI King George VI steeplechase.
Speaking on his blog on the Betfair website, Nicholls, who trained Kauto Star (Fr) (Village Star {GB}) to a record-breaking five King George victories and also dual winner See More Business (GB) (Seymour Hicks {GB}), said, ''The sight of jumping taking place at Kempton [on Saturday] was a timely reminder of what we will all miss if the Jockey Club succeeds in its plan to sell the course for housing. Like everyone else I have spoken to I was shocked when the news broke in midweek.”
The trainer also questioned the figures involved in the Jockey Club's announcement on Tuesday that it will be investing £500 million in British racing over the next ten years.
He added, “The Jockey Club insist they intend to use the proceeds of the sale to refurbish and upgrade Sandown, invest a fortune into jump racing and build a new all-weather track at Newmarket. We've been told that £100 million will be raised from the sale of Kempton yet that is balanced by the Jockey Club's current debt of £115 million. Yet in the next breath their group chief executive Simon Bazalgette is promising an investment of £500 million in our sport over the next decade.
“That type of mega funding for jump racing from the bottom upwards sounds terrific to me but I surely cannot be the only one wondering where all this money is coming from. So at the moment I feel strongly that to have a balanced view I need to know a lot more detail about these startling proposals before making up my mind.”
Despite the recent announcement, the Jockey Club, which owns 14 racecourses in Britain, will need to be granted planning permission by Spelthorne Borough Council in order to sell the land for a proposed development of 3,000 homes and faces stiff opposition to its proposals from residents in the vicinity of the Surrey racecourse.
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