City Racing says door still open for project after 'constructive' BHA talks

Plans to hold racing in the centre of Liverpool in April are all but over after a key meeting between City Racing and the BHA on Tuesday, although the pioneering project has not yet been ruled out totally by the regulator.

Both sides said the meeting had been "constructive" with representatives of City Racing, a joint-enterprise which includes the Jockey Club and Peter Phillips, the Queen’s grandson, making a presentation to the BHA board before taking questions on the proposal.

However, no agreement was reached, meaning hopes aired by City Racing figures in November of staging racing on an artificial surface on The Strand in Liverpool this spring, have essentially been extinguished.

Johnno Spence, whose JSC business was one of City Racing's founders, said: "As far as we were concerned today was D-Day. They basically said they would feed back to us, but we have stressed we do need an answer as soon as possible.

"Today was the first time we've been in front of the board, which is a positive as they are the decision makers, but it's fair to say Liverpool in April's not going to happen as we've run out of time.

"However, we're continuing to work with the BHA and we'd really like to do the first fixture in Britain as we think racing should be innovating and this is a great innovation.

"We have got plenty of support from the horsemen side as well as on the commercial side."

The temporary City Racing surface was tested in Newmarket last year

City Racing launched in 2016 with grand plans to host meetings in places including Oxford Street in London, the Champs-Elysees in Paris and Sydney Harbour Bridge but has had a series of setbacks and delays.

Rigorous testing took place at a private trials morning in Newmarket in November when horses were tested on a temporary surface in front of BHA officials, with the City Racing team hoping it would be enough for them to get the go-ahead to stage races.

It is understood concerns over the safety of the events and logistics of laying a temporary surface have so far hampered the project, but the BHA has not completely closed the door on it.

A BHA spokesman said: "The BHA board held a constructive meeting with City Racing today. We continue to engage with City Racing regarding their proposal."

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