Justin Timberlake’s walking tour is back in the spotlight as Chelmsford faces closure fears

The often troubled history of Chelmsford City Racecourse in Essex took a turn for the worse on Wednesday when the track lost its sporting licence, forcing the cancellation of scheduled meetings including Friday’s Grand Prix and putting the long-term future of the venue in serious doubt.

There have been enough twists and turns in the Chelmsford saga that Justin Timberlake’s walk-on role in the latest chapter feels like the only one to add to the list.

The singer’s concert at the stadium on 4 July 2025 led to chaotic events as 25k fans tried to leave afterwards, forcing some to queue for up to four hours and others to abandon their cars and walk on the nearby A131 road.

The legal action caused by the concert was settled in court but most of the players were dropped and the track’s developer, Great Leighs Estates Limited, went into administration at the end of March when a new company, Golden Mile Racing Limited (GMRL), applied to take over the license to run the platform for the remainder of the 2026 season.

The British Horse Racing Authority said on Wednesday that it “does not consider it appropriate” to grant a racing license to the GMRL, and as a result, “the GMRL does not hold a license to organize matches, pending the outcome of any appeal”. A BHA statement added: “This means that unfortunately no further arrangements will be made [at Chelmsford City] pending the outcome of any appeal process. This includes the games on April 2nd, April 3rd and April 9th.

The card scheduled for the Good Friday course is – or was – one of the most important on the course all year, with £250k in prize money.

John Holmes, a local businessman, first revealed his plan to build a racecourse on the site of the former Essex County Showground near the village of Great Leighs in 2001. The original hope was that it would open – as the first new racecourse in Britain for over 80 years – in 2006, but it was not until 28 May 2008 that attend its first Great Leighs meetings.

The customer experience for the first racers through the gates was a half-built racetrack on a dirt track. The two-story site that served as the center stage of the track enjoyed a past life as a temporary hospitality center for the K Club’s Ryder Cup, and it made it impossible to follow the action live.

After its disappointing opening, the track continued until January 2009 when it was put into administration. It was six years before Chelmsford City emerged from the ashes of Great Leighs, with an enduring legacy and multiple owners, although Holmes is still at the club and his son, Nathan, is now Chelmsford City’s commercial director.

Although racegoers often have issues with Chelmsford’s facilities, trainers and jockeys have been very supportive of it since its inception. The US-style oval mile is a nice, fast, winding track, and its location, about an hour from Newmarket by horse box, is also ideal.

Wednesday’s news will be a setback for many of the top yards counting horses for the new summer Flat season, while the permanent loss of Chelmsford, which hosted 38 meetings in 2025, could leave a big hole in the schedule.