The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 1928–2018
Towcester raced for 90 years until one August administration ended the horses
The Hesketh family's Northamptonshire course entered administration on 16 August 2018 with £1.3M of debts; horse racing never returned.
Towcester Racecourse · 2018-08
What happened
Towcester's modern course opened on the Fermor-Hesketh family's Easton Neston estate in 1928, on ground with racing associations stretching back to 1876, and stayed in family hands even when the wider estate was sold in 2004. AP McCoy rode his 4,000th career winner there in 2013; a greyhound track opened in December 2014.
On 16 August 2018 the operating company went into administration, citing trading difficulties, with debts exceeding £1.3 million. KPMG administrators were appointed within a week; 134 of the 137 staff were made redundant and every remaining race meeting was cancelled at once.
The assets were sold to Fermor Land LLP on 13 November 2018, but racing never resumed: the British Horseracing Authority declared the course permanently closed, and its ten remaining fixtures were sold to Arena Racing Company. A 10-year greyhound lease signed in late October 2019 gave the track a second life — without horses.
Why it happened
- A small country course carrying £1.3M of debts had no cushion once takings fell.
- Family ownership without outside capital left no rescuer when trading turned difficult.
- With greyhounds added in 2014 the business ran two codes; in administration only the cheaper one survived.
The lesson
Towcester went into administration on a Thursday; within a week, 134 of 137 staff were gone and the horses never came back. Small courses run thin — one bad debt stack ends a 90-year fixture.
Aftermath
The track reopened as a greyhound-only venue under a 10-year lease in October 2019 and hosted the English Greyhound Derby in 2021.
Sources
- BBC Sport, October 2019 — Towcester Racecourse closed and remaining fixtures sold (British Horseracing Authority announced Towcester permanently closed; entered administration in August 2018 with debts exceeding £1.3 million; administrators sold assets in November 2018 but racing did not resume; remaining 10 fixtures sold to Arena Racing Company; racing first took place at Towcester in 1876 and AP McCoy's 4,000th career win came there in 2013; BHA chief operating officer Richard Wayman: 'We are saddened to see the closure of Towcester')
- Wikipedia — Towcester Racecourse (course on the Easton Neston estate founded by Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, first modern meeting 1928, retained by the Hesketh family when the estate was sold in 2004; greyhound track opened December 2014; company entered administration 16 August 2018 citing trading difficulties, KPMG administrators appointed 23 August 2018, 134 of 137 staff made redundant; assets sold to Fermor Land LLP 13 November 2018; horse racing ceased permanently; Kevin Boothby signed a 10-year greyhound lease in late October 2019; hosted the English Greyhound Derby in 2018 and 2021)
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