When it opened initially in April 2008, this all-weather, flat racing facility was the first completely new racing venue to be built in the UK for 81 years, the previous most recent being Taunton in 1927. With no courses in Essex or Hertfordshire, and with Newmarket, the home of flat racing, only 50 miles away, all signs pointed towards it being a huge success. Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties, the course went into administration in January 2009 and had its licence revoked, meaning that racing had to stop until a new financial backer could be found.
Redevelopment was undertaken in 2014 and the track relaunched under a new name and with new ownership on 11th January 2015, to an invited crowd of 800 guests. The first public meeting took place on 1st February 2015, with Wanting, the Evens favourite, taking the honour of winning the first race.
Finally, just for fun, I have taken the runners and starting prices from a recent race at this course and changed the names to create the list below. When you log your find, please select a 'horse' from this virtual field and I will email you back to let you know where you finished:
1 Base Of Tree 14/1
2 Stickoflage 9/2
3 Damp Log 5/1
4 Acquiring Satellites 12/1
5 Thanks For The Cache 25/1
6 Needs Maintenance 7/1
7 Premium Member 25/1
8 Non-Runner
9 Clip Top Box 14/1
10 Muggle's Misery 16/1
11 Magnetic Micro 8/1
12 Non-Runner
13 Camo Bag 20/1
14 Ground Zero 7/2 fav
Place your bets!