We will not be able to achieve our aims without Kempton redevelopment

Racing and horses have always been fundamental to my life – both personally and as my family's business for 247 years. So I fully understand the depth of feeling the Jockey Club’s proposals regarding Kempton Park have generated. Nobody celebrates the prospect of closing a racecourse.

However, the Jockey Club does not exist solely to focus on preserving racing's past and managing much of its present. We also have a duty to plot a course for its future. We must not be afraid to change for the right reasons, nor be afraid to take hard but sound decisions for the long-term good of the sport.

Our proposals to put forward the Kempton estate for possible redevelopment for housing are a central part of a wider plan to invest well in excess of half a billion pounds into British racing over the next decade – the largest commitment a racing organisation has ever made and one designed solely to see our sport thriving in the future.