Those campaigning to spare Kempton Park from being bulldozed for housing should not be celebrating victory just yet
Exactly one month from today, Kempton Park should be packed to bursting point as 20,000 racegoers squeeze into the Sunbury track for the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day. And just over a fortnight after that, on 10 January, we will reach the second anniversary of the announcement by Jockey Club Racecourses (JCR) that it plans to sell the track for housing, switch the King George to Sandown Park and build a new all-weather track on the Club’s home turf in Newmarket.
The JCR plan, in association with the developer Redrow, envisages 3,000 homes on the track where racing legends including Mill House, Arkle, Desert Orchid, Kauto Star and Wayward Lad won the King George. But the scheme is hugely controversial, both within racing and in the local area, as Kempton Park sits on green belt land which should, in theory at least, be the last thing that anyone wants or tries to build on.
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