Jockey Club announces hefty investment in Aintree and Cheltenham - but Kempton future ‘out of hands’ of racecourse group

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The Jockey Club has revealed it is planning to invest for growth, starting with Aintree and Cheltenham, but the long-term future of Kempton remains unclear and is out of its hands.

Jockey Club chief executive Jim Mullen said on Saturday the organisation was set to invest "tens of millions of pounds" in its two biggest racecourses to make them among the best sporting experiences in the UK.

However, the Jockey Club is also looking at cost efficiencies and Mullen said that could mean job losses.

In recent years the Jockey Club's financial position has worsened as profits have fallen due to the impact of gambling regulation, the economic climate and falling attendances, although its core operating profit did bounce back in 2024, according to financial results released in September.

The Jockey Club announced this week it would spend £6 million in an attempt to revitalise the Derby meeting at Epsom.

Jockey Club chief executive Jim MullenCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Mullen, who joined the Jockey Club in June, said the organisation was looking to grow and that "growth requires investment".

He added: "In general I want to invest because there is a huge appetite for racing, not just in the Jockey Club but in the country. We are competing in a much more competitive landscape with other leisure activities as well as other racecourses.

"The demand is there but we need to invest and that is what we are doing. We are investing in the Derby, we are investing in our ticketing and customer insight, and we are also, as the first tranche, going to invest in our two largest racecourses.

"It's important to remember this is not a one-off, it's the first tranche of investment. Essentially, we are investing in Cheltenham and Aintree because they are the biggest courses which deliver the greatest returns, but we are not forgetting about our mid and small courses. The whole portfolio is going to share in the investment."

Mullen said the investment would go into the racecourses themselves as well as the customer experience. 

He added: "When that is done, post the investment, when you go to Aintree and Cheltenham you should be able to see the difference.

"It will bring a better experience, which will be up there with some of the best sporting experiences in the UK. Hopefully, because of that, people will remember that and want to come back or, what's even more important, might want to come back more often."

Mullen said his job had been to find sources of funding for the planned investment and that the Jockey Club had "a number of interested parties".

He added: "I can't speak in detail about it for confidentiality reasons, but our plans are now in place. We have identified where it is going to be spent and we wouldn't have spoken about it if we weren't ready to make that investment."

There has been speculation that the Jockey Club could seek to raise much-needed funds from the sale of one of its portfolio of 15 racecourses.

However, Mullen confirmed: "Specifically for this investment this is not about using funds from selling racecourses."

The future of Kempton remains uncertainCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Nevertheless, the future of Kempton remains uncertain. In January 2017 the Jockey Club announced plans in partnership with developers Redrow to close the racecourse and build 3,000 homes but, after meeting resistance from the racing, local communities and the local council, the project was shelved shortly before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Asked about the situation at Kempton, Mullen said: "Kempton is out of my hands."

He added: "Back in 2018 the Jockey Club and Redrow negotiated an option to develop Kempton and that option was negotiated and transferred to Redrow.

"They have the option to exercise that for development, but since I've been here there have been no concrete plans or agreements to develop it. But they do have the option to do so."

Mullen explained that in order to make investments into the business, the Jockey Club would need to find cost efficiencies which would include closing its London office.

He said: "Clearly, before you invest significant amounts of money, you need to make sure you are getting the best returns possible, and that means you have to get your business fit for that.

"The hard decisions on the cost efficiencies are essentially making sure that when we do invest the monies, then the Jockey Club and racing gets the best returns possible, which basically means we'll be looking at the business to see where we can improve efficiencies so we can drive the best value return."

Asked if that would impact the number of people the Jockey Club employed, Mullen said: "It may well do and that's a process we are going to go through, but it will all be to deliver long-term benefits for British racing and the Jockey Club."

Mullen said the 'Axe The Racing Tax' campaign showed what could be done if racing worked together.

He added: "That's all we are trying to do, we are trying to unite racing, bring in the funding. 

"We had 1.3 million, 1.4 million coming racing last year and we want to make that better and grow the sport over the next ten, 15, 20 years. The stewards and the senior management team at the Jockey Club are confident about that and that's what we are going to do."

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