Lifting the lid on Chelmsford's financial saga is revealing - and underlines why the Jockey Club may be the solution
The owners of Essex's only racecourse must not be given an operator's licence after the latest administration

On Saturday the world will be watching. What it will see is a race and a racecourse that exist only because in dark days the Jockey Club stepped in to save Aintree and the Grand National.
Relative to the sport's brightest crown jewel and its home, Chelmsford is chalk to their cheese, yet if it is to survive, the Jockey Club may once again prove to be the ideal saviour.
It was in May 1983 that property developer Bill Davies signed the contract that transferred ownership of Aintree to the Jockey Club. Before that there had been months, years and decades in which Davies and, before him, Mirabel Topham threatened to have Liverpool's racecourse bulldozed for housing.
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Published on inLee Mottershead
Last updated
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- The Grand National has changed but it remains a riveting spectacle - and I Am Maximus is a warrior worth celebrating
- I’m no fan of Chelmsford after being escorted off the track on my last visit - but I still wish it well in its latest crisis
- Frankie Dettori gets to work for Amo at Doncaster as Maureen Haggas reveals a surprising twist to her spat with Zac Purton
- For Keir Starmer's government, affordability checks are bad policy but also bad politics - the time has come to see that and act
- Big fields, bigger crowds and a feelgood factor - the Cheltenham Festival once again has a spring in its step
