Chelmsford City Course Guide

Originally opened as Great Leighs in 2008, racing returned to the venue now known as Chelmsford City in January 2015 after a hiatus of six years from 2009. The course is an all-weather circuit based on the same oval configuration as American tracks with a Polytrack racing surface.

A popular venue with Newmarket trainers, some useful horses have already raced at the track since it’s reopening, notably future Easter Classic winner Tryster and Coventry Stakes winner Buratino.

Flat Racing

Chelmsford City (first opened in April 2008 under the name Great Leighs) has a polytrack surface and is essentially galloping in nature, having broad, sweeping turns. It is a left-handed track of just over a mile in circumference, with seven-furlong and one-mile races starting in different spurs.

Nobody can fault the layout of Chelmsford, because it’s superb, absolutely immaculate, with lovely turns and a good long straight. You’d struggle to find a horse that can’t handle the sweep of the bends and you can ride into them as hard as you can anywhere. Lots of people have noticed there’s been a pace bias, making it hard to come from behind, and that the kickback was severe. That should change now they’re working on resurfacing and, potentially, it’s as good an all-weather venue as you’ll find.

View from the saddle: Jason Weaver

Chelmsford City Top Times
Last 5 years

All Weather

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
5f	Blind Beggar (Standard / Slow)	09 Nov 2023	57.08s
6f	Cuban Breeze (Standard)	11 Nov 2023	1m 9.21s
7f	Cloud Cover (Standard)	14 Oct 2023	1m 22.42s
1m	Positive Impact (Standard)	04 Nov 2023	1m 34.21s
1m 2f	Daysofourlives (Standard / Slow)	07 Nov 2023	2m 2.36s
1m 5f 66y	Spirit Mixer (Standard)	19 May 2022	2m 47.88s
1m 6f	Kyle Of Lochalsh (Standard)	11 Nov 2023	2m 55.26s
2m	Mountain Road (Standard)	24 Sep 2022	3m 21.93s

Chelmsford City Top Trainers
Last 3 years (ordered by number of winners)

Flat

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
C Johnston	196	36	71	£195,447	18.37%	£11.89
S C Williams	234	34	76	£230,264	14.53%	-£18.69
R Hughes	99	23	35	£232,218	23.23%	£0.83
M Appleby	181	21	65	£117,424	11.6%	-£65.13
J & T Gosden	62	21	22	£167,853	33.87%	£1.00
M Botti	103	19	37	£102,299	18.45%	£4.13
M L W Bell	102	19	33	£92,933	18.63%	-£4.69
M D I Usher	123	15	46	£60,663	12.2%	£15.53
James Owen	113	15	33	£69,112	13.27%	-£60.73
S & E Crisford	82	15	33	£100,198	18.29%	-£12.67

Chelmsford City Top Jockeys
Last 3 years (ordered by number of winners)

Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Rossa Ryan	197	38	82	£255,230	19.29%	-£27.65
Marco Ghiani	225	37	75	£188,279	16.44%	£0.28
H Crouch	148	31	56	£139,053	20.95%	£12.74
Billy Loughnane	192	29	68	£146,793	15.1%	-£59.02
Callum Shepherd	149	28	53	£161,372	18.79%	£55.99
J Mitchell	176	26	63	£183,755	14.77%	-£21.85
L Morris	247	23	82	£117,651	9.31%	-£74.88
R Havlin	133	22	47	£128,691	16.54%	-£6.90
Daniel Muscutt	180	18	68	£86,791	10%	-£95.52
Dylan Hogan	183	18	56	£72,859	9.84%	-£34.01