EXCLUSIVE: Racing chiefs unveil sensational new blueprint to open up the Suffolk town as a ‘visitor destination’ to pump much needed cash into the sport of kings
Newmarket could become the ‘new Blackpool’ – after racing chiefs launched a plan to turn it into a tourist resort. It is 40 miles from the sea, does not have a beach or a single donkey.
But it is the home of horse racing, steeped in scandalous Royal history – and even boasts its own tower. Racing chiefs have unleashed a development plan to safeguard the future of the sport of kings – and that involves maximising all potential earnings.
To do that they accept they will have to lift the lid on one of the UK’s best kept secrets – the Suffolk town that at any one time is home to up to 3,000 of the world’s finest racehorses collectively worth around £1bn. Every morning they are exercised by staff from the town’s 75 stables on Warren Hill – where Charles II used to watch his thoroughbreds from a mobile throne 400 years ago.
Visiting the gallops has been largely reserved for owners, trainers and jockeys – until now. The Newmarket Thoroughbred Racing and Breeding Industry Forum has produced an 80-page blueprint setting out a 15-year plan for the town’s development.
And that includes opening the town up to tourists. The plan says it is vital to release the ‘full potential of the historic home of horseracing as a visitor destination which would benefit every business on the High Street creating a vibrant and thriving local economy’.
Officials plan to install a grandstand on the gallops so tourists can watch the horses in action. They will also be allowed to visit top trainers’ yards around the town to see horses working out on treadmills, swimming and chilling out in their own solariums.
Tourists will be able to visit the National Stud where the world’s finest stallions enjoy a roll in the hay to produce the champions of tomorrow.
Other hotspots include the National Horseracing Museum, which charts the history of the sport, the Tattersall sales where the best prospects are bought and sold for up to £5m, and the town’s two racecourse which this weekend stage two of Britain’s showpiece flat races the 1000 and 2000 Guineas.
Tourists will be able to visit racing-mad Charles II’s mansion where he moved so he could be near his thoroughreds – and his actress mistress Nell Gwyn who lived in a cottage over the road rumoured to be linked to the Royal residence by a secret tunnel.
And white knuckle rides are not solely reserved for Blackpool’s rollercoasters.
Thrill seekers can brave the UK’s top horse racing simulator which allows folk to feel the pain of riding full pelt in events like the Grand National.
Visitors can also admire Newmarket’s own tower – the Grade II-listed Jubilee Clock in the High Street was built in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee and has been hand-wound weekly ever since.
Paul Binfield, of bookmaker Paddy Power, said: “It’s a unique town where the horse is king.
“Even pedestrian crossings have extra high buttons so jockeys can reach when they are crossing on horseback.
“Newmarket will have huge global appeal as the world’s first racing resort. It’s definitely coming up on the rails.”
Tracey Harding, chief executive of Discover Newmarket and chief operating officer of the National Horseracing Museum, said the town was ‘special’.
“It has at least 2,500 horses in training every single day, it’s the only place that has two racecourses, it is the physical home of The Jockey Club, it’s got the best veterinary care and equine facilities anywhere in the world. It has Royal scandal and history around every corner,” she said.
“It’s a chance to see elite athletes up close and personal. I don’t think you will see another sport that will take you up close.
“We accept people may not think of this place as a tourist attraction right now. But they need to start watching this space.”
Jason Singh, marketing director of racing auctioneer Tattersalls which runs 12 free-to-visit horse sales-a-year, said: “It’s a wonderful town.
“I first came to Newmarket in the mid-90s. I was backpacking in Europe at the time. I came to the bottom of Warren Hill. I was a racing enthusiast. The first thing I thought is, ‘I’d love to work here one day’.
“There is nothing like it. It’s effectively where racing all over the world began. It was Charles II who kept his horses here. That is the reason that Newmarket is what it is today.
“We’ve been here for over 100 years now. Anybody can come along and have a look. Many get bitten by the racing bug.
“It is called the sport of kings but you definitely don’t need to be a king to participate.
“People don’t have to come along and buy a whole horse themselves. Whether it’s 1% or a fraction of a horse there’s lots of different ways to get involved in owning a racehorse.
“A group of mates who go to the pub together can put a little bit of money together and come and buy a horse and race it. It is an industry that is accessible to just about anybody.
“The thrill of having your horse win on a racecourse is something that is very difficult to replicate.”
Sophie Able, Newmarket racecourses manager and The Jockey Club’s international director, said the town was ‘one of the biggest hidden gems in the UK’.
“It’s really special and unique,” she said.
“As well as the racing we have music events, family days – even Dinosaur Day. It gives us that chance to bring people to Newmarket for whom horse racing maybe isn’t their first passion and get them onto our course.
“When we get them here we have the opportunity to share with them the magical equine world that we are part of.”
Forum lead Amy Starkey said: “We are at a crucial point in the development of Newmarket and the history of horseracing.
“This blueprint for the future is both a plan of action and a call to policymakers to recognise the value of the sport and support it.
“By working with partners in local, regional and national government we hope not only to protect and enhance Newmarket but to see it flourish and thrive for the benefit of future generations.”
A The Jockey Club spokesman said: “Nationally horseracing is the UK’s second most economically significant sport, next to football, generating £4bn for the national economy.
“Newmarket is the world’s No1 horseracing cluster. One in three of all jobs in the town is linked to that cluster contributing more than £300m to the local economy each year.
“Every day from first light strings of thoroughbreds and riders make their way through the town from the training yards to the public training grounds – the rising slopes of Warren Hill to the east and the flat, open gallops on the racecourse side of town to the west.
“The town is at the dawn of a new era where coordinated ambition, the right policy environment, and genuine partnership with government can open a new chapter of growth for the industry and the community it sustains.”