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According to the BHA website Great Leighs has lost its temporary licence and next Thursday’s fixture has been transfered to Kempton.
Is there any way back for Great Leighs?
Any way back for Great Leighs?
Presumably by getting all the promised work done.
Rob
Agreed, as much as it’s a good track for racing if they want paying punters then they need to finish the work and come up with something like Kempton for facilities and the other AW tracks for viewing.
Maybe they need to shut for however long it takes to provide these facilities – shouldn’t be that long, there’s loads of construction workers out there doing nothing.
Maybe they just need some kindly bank to loan them the money to finance the upgrades……….
Paid my first visit there on Tuesday having a runner in the last and have to say it was terrible. I never realised how crap a grandstand in the middle of the track could be. It is literally impossible to watch the whole race through binoculars. The place was dead. If it’s my last visit, can’t say I’ll be sorry.
- Total Posts 17716
About time it shut down, worst track i;ve been to in my life, I wrote about this in the TRF Awards for worst racecourse.
Worst Racecourse
GREAT LEIGHS
Don’t get me started on the parking arrangment and trying to leave the racecourse its like piccadilly circus oh and one smart [expletive] woman told me to reverse and move closer to the yellow JCB truck beside me in which my granmother had tremendous amounts of trouble getting out and I got my cream Henri Lloyd jacket with all black marks on it. Now the racecourse its a joke, they have the bookies inside the hall opposite a bar and they are working from some tables and laptops with about 12 TVs above them and about 50 people trying to struggle from getting a drink to getting a bet on, the floor must of have a good 500 spilt drinks on it. Now the lighting inside the main hall is absolutely attrocious as its impossible to read your paper on the chairs provided unless you go outside in the freezing cold and get some light from the floodlights. The toilets have to be in the worst possible place, they are not even connected with the building, yes they are not in the building, you have to walk about 500 yards outside, wait for the horses to get to the track and the bloke to lift gate so you can go into some little hut. The views of the horses from the rails is sickening, its like if your not at least 6 foot tall you cant see anything, at least they could have the creativity of making sure that the pavement from the buidling to the rail goes down in a slope so that no matter how tall you are its possible of getting a good view of the horses.
Wilson
As I don’t go and probably never will, I’m not too bothered by the facilities and persumedly the same can be said for the executive. But I do like it as a track to bet on and prefer it to Kempton or Lingfield any day of the week. Its a crying shame and I hope they sort it or some kind of dispensation can be given as it obviously has a lot to offer racing, if not the paying public.
I was there last night and have to tell "davidjohnson" the "facilities" are one hell of a lot better than they were last time I went in July.
Having said that the facilities are not at all good, although with the terribly small crowd there last night they were not exactly pushed.
The track itself may well be the best AW track we have in terms of fairness, however if you cannot see the racing with the naked eye or through bins it loses a lot of its attraction and you may as well watch the racing from home.
I was able to watch about half the running in the first three races "live" with a combination of finding the right places to stand and some deft footwork but to be honest after the third I gave up and watched the remaining races on the TV, which I hate having to do.
It is a shame because although the racing was terribly low grade last night, a banded meeting in all but name, it did produce some cracking finishes.
I do have a great deal of sympathy with the owners – they were shafted by the council approving the by-pass having previously given planning permission for the track to be built and this led to them having to have the "temporary" stand in the centre of the course.
Let’s hope they can sort out the issues and get racing again.
About time it shut down, worst track i;ve been to in my life, I wrote about this in the TRF Awards for worst racecourse.
Worst Racecourse
GREAT LEIGHS
Don’t get me started on the parking arrangment and trying to leave the racecourse its like piccadilly circus oh and one smart [expletive] woman told me to reverse and move closer to the yellow JCB truck beside me in which my granmother had tremendous amounts of trouble getting out and I got my cream Henri Lloyd jacket with all black marks on it. Now the racecourse its a joke, they have the bookies inside the hall opposite a bar and they are working from some tables and laptops with about 12 TVs above them and about 50 people trying to struggle from getting a drink to getting a bet on, the floor must of have a good 500 spilt drinks on it. Now the lighting inside the main hall is absolutely attrocious as its impossible to read your paper on the chairs provided unless you go outside in the freezing cold and get some light from the floodlights. The toilets have to be in the worst possible place, they are not even connected with the building, yes they are not in the building, you have to walk about 500 yards outside, wait for the horses to get to the track and the bloke to lift gate so you can go into some little hut. The views of the horses from the rails is sickening, its like if your not at least 6 foot tall you cant see anything, at least they could have the creativity of making sure that the pavement from the buidling to the rail goes down in a slope so that no matter how tall you are its possible of getting a good view of the horses.
Wilson
When we were lads and went racing, all we had was a muddy field, a push bike, a pair of wellies, a flask of luke warm tea, a pack of sardine sandwiches and a torch and we loved it.
some of you namby pamby’s don’t know you’re born
I’ve only been once – to their big evening meeting after QEII Day – and I enjoyed myself.
I obviously knew what to expect and maybe years of pointing has toughened me up although I was perhaps spoiled as I was treated to dinner in their restaurant.
The saddling area/paddock are well positioned for the public, most of whom seemed to be in the bars or restaurant.
I know you can’t see the races properly but they do have plenty of screens to watch the action and had Derek Thompson as the in-house presenter to keep the public informed and involved not just doing the presentations but loads of information beforehand as well.
At the end of the meeting the crowd seemed to be enjoying the opportunity to have a post-racing drink with music.
A conventional meeting it ain’t but if you go there for a night out to see the horses in the paddock, have a drink, a meal and a few bets it does offer an alternative to the pub.
Hopefully they will find the funds to comply with the BHA’s requirements and to start work on the proper stand on the outside of the straight (for which they have plans) and turf course.
I don’t think I’d be particularly rushing back for a Winter afternoon meeting though.
Looks like Not So Great leighs has fallen foul of the Sunbury Lizard Council’s resolutions 1 and 33.
1. All racing must eventually end up on the Kempton sandpit.
33. In the event of a tote notsosuper7 rollover looking like it will be won, the old Ile De Chypre bins will be dusted off. To facilitate their use all parts of any course must be viewable with bins from the stand. Failure to meet this requirment will prematurely invoke resolution 1.
Conspiracy? Too many good things going in. A bit like Hackney dogs where there used to be lots of big prices. Those where the days.
I’ve not been to Great Leighs (though I plan to), but I have to comment that the Thursday night TV coverage ATR supply to The Winning Post is the most accessible, inclusive and punter-friendly coverage I’ve seen on any channel.
It hacks all over Channel 4’s voiceover approach; BBC’s cross cut multi-presenter model, (lots of people working, cut to them all in static, box-top positions), and RUK’s tired and fomulaic Morecambe and Wise paddockside natters.
The States too: look at Jason and Andy at Aqueduct; upright in their club suite office; humdrum talking heads in suits and ties, the same every meet – as if someone switches them off at night until first post the next day.
At the Chelmsford course, with that mobile camera having liberal access to everywhere but the stewards room, the viewer is there. He’s in the winners enclosure. She’s talking to the cheeky chef and the Football Factory bar staff. Then he’s having a plate of pate with the hen party from Southend, before helping to groom the second favourite in the saddling boxes alongside the trainer.
The viewer becomes part of an experience once reserved for the rich and privileged.
It seems that more people – professionals, owners, racegoers; the grassroots – have been interviewed live at Great Leighs in the past six weeks than RUK have interviewed since their inception. And that’s a great thing for racing imo at a time when the sport needs to be including everyone in the country.
Well done ATR and good luck GL!
Would also add the ATR coverage was also broadcast over the PA so those who did turn up also got to hear the interviews.
Conspiracy? Too many good things going in. A bit like Hackney dogs where there used to be lots of big prices. Those where the days.
Hackney dogs…that was such a fair track.
Such a shame it went, so many "samey" dog tracks on BAGS now with a lack of variety in trips.
Zip
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