Chelmsford has a habit of losing its racecourse and getting it back.
Racing on Galleywood Common survived for close to two centuries before ending in 1935. The city then waited more than 70 years for a replacement, only for the new Great Leighs racecourse to fall into administration less than a year after opening.
It returned again as Chelmsford City in 2015.
Now racing has stopped once more.
The two meetings originally scheduled at Chelmsford City Racecourse on Thursday 8th and Thursday 15th October have been transferred to Southwell, meaning Essex racegoers will go through another month without racing at Great Leighs.
No race meeting has been held at Chelmsford since 26th March.
What has happened at Chelmsford?
The problem this time is not the track or the weather.
Great Leighs Estates Limited, which operated racing at Chelmsford City, entered administration in March.
Golden Mile Racing Limited subsequently applied to become the new licensed operator, but the British Horseracing Authority rejected its application on 1st April.
An appeal was later dismissed by an independent Licensing Committee.
Without a licensed operator, racing could not continue and fixtures began moving elsewhere.
There was more encouraging news in July when Arena Racing Company, better known as ARC, agreed terms with the racecourse freeholders with the intention of bringing racing back.
ARC operates a large group of British racecourses including Lingfield, Southwell, Newcastle, Wolverhampton and Great Yarmouth.
The company said it wanted racing at Chelmsford to resume at the earliest available opportunity and entered discussions with the BHA over the licences required.
But there is still no racing licence in place and Chelmsford City itself says racing remains unable to resume. Ticket sales for racing have been paused.
There is one slightly confusing detail for anyone looking online.
Chelmsford City's website still carries pages for racing on 8th and 15th October, but those meetings are no longer taking place there. Both dates now appear on Southwell's racing calendar.
So if you were planning a trip to Chelmsford City this October, don't.
The horses will be in Nottinghamshire instead.
Chelmsford has been here before
For a city with such a long association with racing, interruptions are nothing new.
The original Chelmsford races took place on Galleywood Common.
Racing there can be traced back to at least 1759, although there are suggestions that horses were racing across the common even earlier.
It became one of the country's more unusual racecourses.
The circuit ran around Galleywood Common and surrounded St Michael and All Angels Church. At various points the course also had to contend with roads, a windmill and brickworks.
Its most famous equine visitor was Golden Miller.
Before becoming one of the greatest steeplechasers in racing history, Golden Miller won twice over hurdles at Galleywood in 1931.
He would go on to win five consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups and, in 1934, became the only horse to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National in the same year.
Racing under official rules at Galleywood ended in 1935. Pony racing continued for a few more years, but the Second World War brought racing on the common to a final end.
Much of the old course can still be traced today, with surviving stretches forming part of Galleywood Common. Chelmsford City Council records the racecourse as operating between 1759 and 1935, with parts still marked by white posts and rails.
For anyone interested in local sporting history, it makes for a rather different walk around Chelmsford.
Then came Great Leighs
It took more than seven decades for Essex to get its racecourse back.
Great Leighs opened on 20th April 2008 on a site between Chelmsford and Braintree.
It was Britain's first entirely new racecourse since Taunton opened in 1927.
There was considerable ambition behind it, but the timing could hardly have been worse.
Less than a year after the first meeting, the operating company went into administration in January 2009.
The gates closed.
What followed was a six-year struggle to bring racing back.
Eventually, the course was revived under a new identity.
Chelmsford City Racecourse opened in January 2015 and quickly established itself as a busy all-weather venue, helped by floodlit evening racing and generous prize money.
The first winner after the reopening was Tryster, trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by Adam Kirby.
Chelmsford went on to stage more than 60 meetings in some seasons and introduced valuable races including the Queen Charlotte Stakes and Chelmer Stakes.
For a while, the difficult Great Leighs years looked firmly in the past.
Then came 2026.
What happens next?
There is at least reason to think the present closure will not be permanent.
ARC's involvement gives Chelmsford a potential route back into the fixture list.
The company's announcement in July said it had agreed terms with Chelmsford City Racecourse Ltd and Moulsham Hall Estates Ltd, with the intention of entering a long-term agreement and restarting racing as soon as the necessary approvals were secured.
There is another small clue pointing towards the future.
ARC's Β£1 million All-Weather Bonus for the 2026/27 winter season specifically says that races held at an ARC-operated Chelmsford City would qualify for points if fixtures resume.
The scheme starts on 20th October.
That does not mean racing will be back by then, but it does show Chelmsford is being included in ARC's plans for the winter should the necessary arrangements be completed.
For now, however, Chelmsford remains without racing.
October racing without Chelmsford
Fortunately for local racegoers, one of the biggest months of the Flat season is taking place a journey up the road.
Newmarket's Rowley Mile has a busy October programme.
After Sun Chariot Day on Saturday 3rd October, the Dubai Future Champions Festival follows on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th October.
There is then Two Year Old Day on Wednesday 21st October, October Thursday on 22nd October and the Final Meeting on Friday 30th and Saturday 31st October.
Of those, Saturday 10th October is the standout.
Future stars at Newmarket
The headline race is the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes.
Run over seven furlongs, it has been one of Britain's defining races for two-year-olds since the nineteenth century.
Its roll of honour includes some of the biggest names in racing, among them Nijinsky, Mill Reef and Frankel.
More recently, City Of Troy won the Dewhurst in 2023 before winning the Derby at Epsom the following year.
This year's programme puts the Dewhurst at 3pm, followed at 3.40pm by one of Britain's great staying handicaps, the Cesarewitch.
The contrast between the two races is part of the appeal.
The Dewhurst is seven furlongs and is designed to identify some of the best young horses in Europe.
The Cesarewitch stretches more than two miles and regularly attracts a huge field in which stamina matters far more than youthful speed.
For anyone from Chelmsford missing their local racing this autumn, it is a strong substitute.
Making a day of Newmarket
Newmarket's connection with racing goes far beyond the racecourse.
The National Horseracing Museum at Palace House tells the story of the sport from the town that became its headquarters.
The site incorporates part of Charles II's former sporting palace and the Rothschild Yard, where visitors can meet retired racehorses.
Go early enough and there is also the chance to see strings of racehorses exercising on the town's famous gallops.
Warren Hill in the morning followed by the Rowley Mile in the afternoon is about as close as you can get to seeing how Newmarket works as a racing town.
Under-18s can attend the Dubai Future Champions Festival free when accompanied by a responsible adult aged 21 or over, subject to the course's admission conditions.
Or follow Chelmsford's own racing history
There is another option closer to home.
Galleywood Common is still there.
More than 90 years after the last official races, much of the shape of the old racecourse survives in the landscape.
It is an unusual reminder that Chelmsford's racing story did not begin with floodlights and Polytrack at Great Leighs.
It stretches back more than 250 years.
That history also provides a little perspective on the current problems.
Chelmsford lost racing once before.
Then it got it back.
Great Leighs itself opened, disappeared and returned.
With ARC now working towards another revival, the latest interruption may prove to be another chapter rather than the end of the story.
But there will be no racing at Chelmsford City on 8th or 15th October.
Those fixtures have moved to Southwell.
For local racegoers wanting live action this month, Newmarket is the obvious alternative, while anyone waiting for Chelmsford's own horses to return will have to keep watching for the next announcement.
Check the British Horseracing Authority and Chelmsford City Racecourse for the latest position before planning any future visit to Great Leighs.
