Chelmsford City racecourse awarded 12 fixtures for 2015

Great Leighs racecourse has been renamed Chelmsford City and will host fixtures again in 2015

Chelmsford City racecourse has been allocated 12 fixtures for 2015.

The Essex venue initially opened as Great Leighs in 2008, but went into administration and had its racing licence revoked after less than a year.

It is set to be reopened next year under new ownership and officials can then apply to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) for more fixtures.

There are due to be 1,464 meetings in 2014 and the BHA announced there would be a similar number next year.

"A number of factors raised in the consultation were taken into account by the executive and board when determining what the overall size of the fixture list should be," said Ruth Quinn, director of racing for BHA.

"These included general concern over the number of small field races and the support of the majority of respondents for maintaining the size of the fixture list."