Chelmsford City woes are a symptom of wider headwinds for racing

The future of Britain's most recent racecourse, Chelmsford City, was thrown into doubt and confusion this week by the withdrawal of its racecourse licence by the British Horseracing Authority.

Chelmsford, which began life as Great Leighs back in 2008, has endured a rollercoaster existence, and several alterations in its corporate entity. Yet despite a precarious financial background, the track itself has been well received by professionals, and adopted by the general public too, attracting very respectable crowds to a part of the country not served well by racing.

Its malaise stems from the inability of British racecourses to stage fixtures at will. A finite supply of fixtures can only be supplemented by their purchase from other racecourses or in annual auctions by BHA, meaning fixed costs are high for new entrants. It's impossible to win a satisfactory return on the high capital cost of building an all-weather racecourse without twice the number of fixtures that would satisfy a turf racecourse.

In the same week that news emerged that Towcester would like to re-enter the racing calendar, the Northamptonshire track will face very similar problems. Whilst it may have a racing infrastructure intact from its previous incarnation before it closed to horses in 2019, the fixtures were all sold to other racecourses who won't want to surrender them. Any chance of racing at Towcester restarting is wholly reliant either upon fixture purchase, or an offer from BHA which might perceive the re-opening of Towcester to be in the sport's best interests.

In the US, racing is beset by a different set of problems that start with a diminishing horse population, and a betting public more attracted to other mainstream sports. As is often the case, irrespective of territory, the ownership of racecourses is a property play. Metropolitan racecourses will always be vulnerable to commercial property development, as the example of Kempton Park's future illustrates.

In the US, this is yet more accentuated. In recent years, Arlington Park gave way to developers, Rillito Racecourse in Arizona and Golden Gate Fields in California both closed due to lack of support, Hawthorne in Illinois is in the hands of administrators, and Ruidoso Downs is on an enforced sabbatical after the elements washed away the racing surface. No less than 40 tracks have closed since 2000.

It's not all bad news however. In the Land of the Free, a new racecourse is nearing completion at Thunder Plains in Wyoming, whilst Turf Paradise in Arizona has received a lifeline in the shape of a new owner, prepared to invest in the only remaining racecourse in Arizona.

As never before, racecourse survival is dictated by its return from betting. Where those financial models are biased toward the oddsmaker, racing faces an uphill struggle. Given different states of the US manage their wagering legislation differently to one another, the lack of uniformity does not lend itself to a balanced horse population between states or the same level of interest in the sport across the country.

But if some countries are patently disadvantaged by their statutory set up with betting, spare a thought for the legions of fixtures worldwide with no traction whatsoever on the overall betting market.

In Switzerland, Zurich Racecourse stages events throughout the summer reliant only upon commercial sponsorship, admission revenue and on site catering and wagering turnover. Small wonder the prize funds are modest.

Among country club meetings in Australia, many aren't TAB supported, meaning the wagering is limited to on site bookmakers. The same is the case with the majority of US steeplechase events - no more than 30 in total - yet these attract larger crowds than watch all but the classic flat racing events.

The over-reliance upon gambling as the sole source of revenue has to stop. Racecourses must find a route to sustaining themselves in such a way that downturns in betting handle or shifts in legislation do not have such a material impact upon the presentation of their product. By all means let's present horseracing as a wagering opportunity, but not as the be-all and end-all.