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Perhaps it is the secrecy of it all that has shocked people the most.
There have been whispers about Kempton’s uncertain future for a long time but an optional deal done in the background seven years ago? Surely not.
As The Jockey Club announced investment plans for Cheltenham, Aintree and Epsom, Kempton is at the mercy of home construction company Redrow.
Jockey Club chief executive Jim Mullen admitted the fate of Kempton is ‘out of his hands’ after the revelation that Redrow has an option to develop the site until at least 2028.
The Sun first broke the story back in June and those with good memories would recall that Kempton’s future was once in doubt in 2017.
With the Labour government eager to build more houses and make life easier for property developers to build on green-belt land, it is widely expected that Redrow will eventually take up their option to develop on Kempton Racecourse in the near future.
Kempton’s stand in the dark this month at a recent sparsely attended All-Weather meeting
Horses race on an All-Weather track that is highly-regarded by industry professionals
Jumps action at Kempton last month at a track that can produce good ground in the winter
The element of betrayal here is that the Jockey Club have effectively kept this arrangement quiet for seven years. It’s a horrible backdrop for Kempton’s most prestigious race, the King George VI Chase, to take place on in Boxing Day.
This was a deal essentially struck in 2018 that was not made public at the time and has now emerged months after the racing industry has campaigned tooth and nail to successfully ‘Axe The Racing Tax’.
The Jockey Club, a non-profit organisation, played a big role in that push. Some observers feel undermined. One imagines a brighter future for jumps racing is one that includes Kempton.
The professionals within the industry will certainly miss the two tracks. The jumps track is a perfect antithesis to Cheltenham.
Kempton is a speed test on a flat, right-handed track. Cheltenham is left-handed, a stiffer test of stamina and undulating. To win both the King George and Gold Cup, you require different characteristic and it’s why you need to be a true great to achieve both.
The King George is the undisputable Christmas showpiece in the British racing calendar. It attracts two-and-a-half milers that may not have the stamina for a Gold Cup to mix it with the very best three-milers who do have the excess reserves to go for the big one at Cheltenham in March.
This year’s renewal looks set to attract two top-notch Willie Mullins horses from Ireland in Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File.
The All-Weather track is widely regarded as one of the best in the country and a lot of very promising two-year-olds are unleashed there on the Flat. It’s a fair track for a youngster to learn their trade and was used as a prep race for the likes of Enable in the September Stakes ahead of a tilt for the Prix De L’Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
One individual that would certainly miss Kempton if it is indeed sold down the river eventually is top trainer Nicky Henderson.
Jockeys gather in the weighing room at Kempton Park last month
Horses go round the bend at the venue that is being eyed by housing developers
He told the Racing Post: ‘I’m sure, and I hope, I’ve got some allies, because we’ll have to jump up and down on this together and make a song and dance about it as we need to drum up plenty of support.
‘Nothing’s changed as far as we’re concerned. What we were shouting and screaming about last time is that Kempton is one of the premier jumps tracks in the country. Some people might not care because it has a lot of all-weather meetings. They can go anywhere, but you can’t replicate, change or rebuild that chase or hurdle track. It’s crucial to the future of jump racing.’
Kempton, located just 15 miles outside Central London, was under threat in 2017 when The Jockey Club intended to close it down for Redrow to build 3,000 houses in a deal worth £100million. That ultimately fell through but it was unearthed this week that a decade-long option for Redrow to develop was negotiated in 2018.
While the professionals will mourn the potential loss of Kempton and the cultural hole in Christmas for many will cut deep, it is a place that has been the ugly duckling of the Jockey Club portfolio for some time.
While Cheltenham and Aintree have been transformed into massive jumps racing amphitheatres, Kempton would have done well to get a lick of paint in recent years. The tracks may be perfect that attract classy types, the facilities for racegoers leave a lot to be desired.
Perhaps this underhand deal done in the shadows shows why there has been next to no investment in Kempton. The All-Weather days fail to draw in a crowd. And bar the King George meeting, it struggles to attract anything more than 7,000 through the gates. That’s in keeping with mainstream audiences losing interest in a sport that has ignored the fears of its core customer base for too long.
With the two-mile Grade One novice hurdle now staged at Aintree on Boxing Day, a race last year that was barely seen in thick fog last year, there are growing suspicions that one day the King George could be run on Merseyside.
Even for a non-profit organisation in The Jockey Club, Kempton is not seen as commercially viable anymore. Maximising places like Cheltenham and Aintree plus reviving the fortunes of the Derby at Epsom are the priorities at the top end.
Jockey Club CEO Jim Mullen says the future of Kempton Racecourse is ‘out of my hands’
Leading British trainer Nicky Henderson is a major supporter of Kempton
The major fear is that other racecourse organisations may follow. New British Horseracing Authority chief executive Lord Charles Allen said last week that ‘everyone tells me we need more money.’
Cash is still king. Racing is strapped for it. And even the wonderfully deep cultural mystic of Kempton isn’t safe.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK…
IMPOSE TOI keeps improving through the staying division ranks and confirmed the Newbury form with Strong Leader by winning the Long Walk Hurdle by a length and a half at Ascot.
One suspects he’ll have to pull out more in the spring festivals when the leading Irish horse come to town but he’s gone from handicapping to Grade One winner in a matter of months and Nicky Henderson’s seven-year-old is still on an upward curve.
CHRISTMAS SELECTIONS…
FACT TO FILE (5-2, Paddy Power) can get his revenge over stablemate Gaelic Warrior to prevail in a blockbuster King George VI Chase on Boxing Day at Kempton (2.30).
MAJBOROUGH (9-4, William Hill) can leave his seasonal reappearance reversal at Cork well behind with victory in the Paddy’s Reward Club Chase at the more suitable Leopardstown (December 27, 1.12) to keep the green-and-gold JP McManus-Mullins bandwagon going.
Inothewayurthinkin (left) can get the better of Galopin Des Champs once again
REIGNING Gold Cup winner INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN (2-1, Ladbrokes) can topple Galopin Des Champs and claim the spoils in the Savills Chase for McManus the following day at Leopardstown (December 28, 2.30).
