Towcester axes meetings as it prepares for administration
THE future of Towcester racecourse has been plunged into doubt after its owners prepared to call in administrators.
After “experiencing trading difficulties”, Towcester’s directors “have concluded that they have no alternative in the short term but to seek court protection”. Planned greyhound meetings today and over the weekend have been cancelled. The next horseracing event was scheduled for Oct 10.
Towcester’s history can be traced back to 1876. The current holding company was incorporated in 1928 by the first Lord Hesketh and remains to this day in the Fermor-hesketh family. The Third Baron Hesketh, the former Conservative Party treasurer who defected to the UK Independence Party in 2011, is listed as a company director.
Arguably the most famous recent race at Towcester saw AP Mccoy record his 4,000th career win in 2013.
Towcester’s most recently filed accounts are for the year ending December 2016. Losses before tax totalled £2.4m on £3.4m of turnover. Auditors qualified their opinion on the financial statements because they were unable to verify stock or cash balances and they said the previous year’s accounts had not been audited.
The racecourse said in a statement: “Whilst inevitably there will be considerable interest from customers, supporters and suppliers, the directors ask that they be given time to focus on exploring other options for the business and they anticipate there will be a further update in the next few days.
“The directors remain hopeful that despite the current situation, given the significant history of horseracing and more recently greyhound racing at Towcester, there will be significant interest from potential acquirers.”