Chelmsford delight as 11 extra fixtures announced for 2018

Chelmsford has added 11 meetings to its schedule in 2018, with the course having been active in the fixture bidding process to assemble what management have described as more customer-friendly list.

The arrival of Newcastle's all-weather course saw Chelmsford's schedule reduced by seven to 52 meetings in 2017, but the total has bounced back to 63 next year.

Chairman Joe Scanlon said: "We bid quite hard to get a lot of extra fixtures but the big advantage this time around is we have them for three years after the BHA changed the process.

"We've got an even stronger fixture list than this year – we've got more summer fixtures. When we started off in our first year we were more or less a winter track, but we've got some more July and August fixtures now and some good bank holiday meetings.

"We've had to pay for them, we've stuck our neck out and bought them for three years. I'm pleased with what we've got."

Scanlon added that the course intended to put in the necessary contributions to unlock the extra funding the sport intends to target at the grassroots.

"If they put the prize-money up, we're prepared to match it," he said.

The other course to gain a number of fixtures in 2018 is Kempton, which has added six meetings to race 77 times in total.

In all, Kempton's owners Jockey Club Racecourses will have 348 fixtures next year.

JCR chief executive Paul Fisher said: "We're pleased to be the home for nearly a quarter of British racing's fixtures next year and to earn the right to stage more next year on the back of our investments in prize-money and driving field sizes, including through improving racing surfaces and the experience we offer to connections."

He added: "More fixtures will allow us to generate greater returns in 2018, and that means we'll be able to put more back into British racing next year, including another boost to prize-money."

There will be a four-week gap between JCR's biggest jumps meetings in 2018 with the Cheltenham Festival starting on March 13 and the Grand National meeting beginning at Aintree on April 12.

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