Justin Timberlake’s walk-on part back in spotlight as Chelmsford faces closure fears
The oft-troubled history of Chelmsford City racecourse in Essex took its latest turn for the worse on Wednesday when the track lost its licence to host fixtures,This means the cancellation of scheduled meetings including the lucrative Good Friday fixture and putting the long-term future of the venue in serious doubt,There have been enough twists in the Chelmsford saga that Justin Timberlake’s apparent walk-on part in the latest chapter is just one more to add to the list,The singer’s concert at the track on 4 July 2025 led to chaotic scenes when 25,000 fans left afterwards, forcing some to queue for up to four hours and others to abandon their cars and walk along the nearby A131 dual carriageway,A legal action arising from the concert was settled out of court, but the crowd capacity for gigs was lowered and the track’s operator, Great Leighs Estates Limited, went into administration on Monday.
A new company, Golden Mile Racing Limited (GMRL), applied to take over the licence to stage racing for the remainder the year,The British Horseracing Authority said on Wednesday it “did not consider it appropriate” to grant a racing licence to GMRL and that as a result “GMRL is not licensed to stage any fixtures, pending the outcome of any appeal”,The BHA added: “This means that regrettably no further fixtures will be staged [at Chelmsford City] pending the outcome of any appeal process,This includes the fixtures on 2 April, 3 April and 9 April,”The scheduled card at the course on Good Friday is – or was – one of the most valuable at the course all year, with £250,000 in prize money.
John Holmes, a local entrepreneur, first revealed his plan to build a racecourse on the site of the former Essex County Showground near the village of Great Leighs in 2001.Initial hopes were that it would open – as the first new racecourse in Britain for more than 80 years – in 2006, but it was not until 28 May 2008 that Great Leighs staged its first meeting with paid attendance.The customer experience for the first racegoers through the gates was effectively a half-built racecourse in a muddy field.The two-tier marquee that served as a grandstand in the middle of the track had enjoyed a previous life as a temporary hospitality facility at the K Club’s Ryder Cup and made it all but impossible to follow the action live.Chepstow 2.
00 Country Park 2,30 Hurricane Pat 3,00 Touquet 3,32 Knight Of Allen 4,07 So You Know 4.
39 The Italian Fox 5,15 Louxor De GrugyKelso 2,40 Mr Mojo Risin 3,10 Parish Star 3,40 Benefit Ben (nb) 4.
15 Guet Apens 4,46 My Lady Elektra 5,20 Doubly BlessedSouthwell 5,10 Hot Silk 5,48 Hundred Caps 6.
18 Hardstyle 6.48 Isla Bella (nap) 7.18 Espanita 7.48 Captain Robert 8.18 Pigeon HouseAfter its inauspicious opening, the track staggered on until January 2009, when it was placed into administration.
Six years passed before Chelmsford City emerged from the ashes of Great Leighs, with a permanent grandstand and new majority ownership, although Holmes remained a regular presence at the track and his son, Nathan, is Chelmsford City’s commercial director.While racegoers have often had issues with the facilities at Chelmsford, trainers and jockeys have been hugely supportive since its opening day.The US-style oval mile is a fair, galloping track with wide bends and its location, about an hour away from Newmarket, is also ideal.Wednesday’s news will be a setback for many top yards readying horses for the new summer Flat season, while the permanent loss of Chelmsford, which staged 38 meetings last year, would leave a significant hole in the schedule.
Revealed: the vast illegal casino network targeting UK gamblers
Calls for tougher laws as network stretching from Caribbean to Georgia generates riches for offshore tycoons by appearing to prey on the vulnerableImmaculately groomed and beaming from ear to ear, Andres Markou looks every inch the golden boy of the gambling sector. The youthful boss of MyStake, a fast-growing digital casino, has been pictured shaking hands with the Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho over a lucrative branding partnership.Elsewhere, he can be seen collecting industry awards, or offering “visionary” insights to interviewers. There is only one hurdle blocking Markou’s ascent to the very top of his trade: he does not exist.The photos seem to be AI-generated fakes and Markou, it appears, is a decoy, deflecting attention from the true faces behind a sophisticated network of illegal online casinos
A ‘dress rehearsal’ for life: inside the Manchester project helping homeless men rebuild
It costs a lot to live by the canal in central Manchester, with even the pokiest of studios renting for £1,000. But in Embassy Village, the city’s newest waterside community, residents do not need to be rich. Quite the opposite, in fact. To live there, you have to be male, homeless and ready to get your life back on track.Nestled between the River Irwell and the Bridgewater canal, just across from the fashionable Castlefield district, Embassy’s 40 studio flats have been built under two Victorian viaducts carrying the city’s trams and trains
Teenager died after asking ChatGPT for ‘most successful’ way to take his life, inquest told
A 16-year-old boy killed himself after asking ChatGPT for the “most successful” way to take your own life, an inquest has been told.Luca Cella Walker, a private school pupil from Yateley, Hampshire, died on 4 May last year.An inquest at Winchester coroner’s court heard on Tuesday that, hours before his death, Walker had asked the generative AI chatbot for the “most successful” way for someone to kill themself on a railway line.At the time of his death, he was studying at Sixth Form College Farnborough. He had recently graduated from Lord Wandsworth College near Hook, Hampshire
Head of NHS England ‘really worried’ about medicine supplies
The head of the NHS in England has said he is “really worried” about medicine supply issues.A number of experts have raised concerns about cost implications and supply disruption linked to the war in Iran.The NHS England chief executive, Jim Mackey, was asked during a phone-in on LBC Radio on Tuesday what contingency planning was in place because “the UK imports 75% of its medicine”. He said: “We are really worried about this. We’ve already had a couple of supply shocks in the last 12 to 18 months of key supplies
Three hospital doctors’ groups threaten to coordinate strike action in England
The NHS’s three main groups of hospital doctors in England are threatening to coordinate strike action in a dramatic escalation of their campaign for higher pay.The British Medical Association said on Tuesday it would ballot consultants, and specialist, associate specialist and speciality (SAS) medics about joining resident doctors in taking strike action aimed at improving their earnings.“Should the ballots be successful, the government risks having all doctors working in secondary [hospital] care in England taking industrial action during the same period,” the BMA said.Consultants want better pay and shorter hours, while SAS doctors are seeking increased basic pay, improved overtime rates, more annual leave and better career opportunities.Resident – formerly junior – doctors are due to start a six-day strike next Tuesday, 7 April, just after the Easter weekend
‘Should never have been prescribed’: private UK cannabis clinics face call for tighter regulation
Oliver Robinson felt he had exhausted conventional therapies when he left the Priory, a private mental health facility where he was treated for depression and addiction between 2019 and 2022. Initially he found relief from a new kind of prescription elsewhere. But by the time he took his own life in November 2023, aged 34, his family believe his medicine was making him worse.In January, an inquest concluded that Robinson’s prescription for medicinal cannabis had “probably contributed to his death”. Catherine McKenna, the coroner for Manchester North, also ruled that his continued use of the prescription, first issued to him in May 2022 by Curaleaf Clinic, a private cannabis provider, “acted as an obstacle” to him receiving appropriate psychiatric and addiction care
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