HORSERACING at Great Leighs has taken one more stride to becoming a reality as the new owners were granted 12 "start-up" fixtures for 2015.
Owner Betfred and partners will now start applying for further fixtures from the British Horseracing Authority, hoping to reach 80 in the 2015 season.
Behind the scenes, meanwhile, contractors began craning in the steelworks for the ground's £6 million grandstand this week.
"I am delighted," said course clerk Andy Waitt. "We are pleased to get the start-up fixtures, which will mean starting racing in January. But we still hope to pick up 80 fixtures."
It is commonplace for the BHA to provide a racecourse being newly embraced into the fixture list with "start-up" fixtures which it helps to fund.
Amid the announcement following the authority's "first phase" of its consultation on Monday, it also confirmed there would be about 1,500 fixtures next year, similar to the 2014 format.
The bidding process for further fixtures is currently ongoing and a comprehensive rundown is expected to be published in September.
Director of racing at BHA, Ruth Quinn, said on Monday: "Consultation will continue on the allocation of BHA-controlled fixtures and initiatives to address small field sizes. This will include a possible reduction in the number of races run in the overall race programme, as proposed by BHA in the consultation document."
While work on the foundations of the grandstand off the A131 already began last month, on Tuesday contractors brought in the cranes to start work on the frame of the 2,000-plus capacity unit.
More than 40 contractors are now on site daily working on the banana-shaped, two-storey complex. "Work on all the issues the BHA highlighted are ahead of schedule," said Mr Waitt.
The 180-metre long stand will be built on the foundations of the old complex removed by Dutch-based owners De Boer in January 2011. Work on the new building, which will include a central tower, hospitality suites and a betting hall, is due to finish towards the end of November. The owners hope to dish out in the region of £42,000 in prize money per fixture, to provide about 100 jobs on race days and to build a 10,000-plus capacity stand by 2019.
In anticipation, new paving blocks have been installed and two underground walkways entirely excavated and drained of floodwater
The return of racing to Great Leighs, potentially coming as early as December, will spell the end of a six-year period in which the ground had been left derelict and redundant.
The course, bought by ex-show jumper John Holmes from the Essex Farmers' Union in 1997, closed in January 2009 due to financial failures despite being granted 48 meetings by the BHA.
MC Racetracks took ownership of the ground in November 2011, but failed twice to receive BHA consent for racing.
Fred Done, who along with his brother is worth £800 million, however, put the company out of its misery in December 2013 when he bought the course from the Royal Bank of Scotland.
