Racing: Council gives go-ahead for new Welsh course

Carmarthenshire Council has granted planning permission for a £16m racecourse on the former Ffos Las mine site at Trimsaran, near Llanelli.

The company behind the project originally wanted to build a course at nearby Pembrey Peninsula, but that project had to be abandoned after various setbacks. Plans for the 608-acre former opencast mine include the establishment of a Welsh National Racing School, equestrian centre and hotel. The location, on high ground in the Gwendraeth Valley, should ensure few fixtures are lost due to bad weather. The new one mile, five furlong venue will stage all-weather Flat racing and jumping on turf and is scheduled to open next summer as the British Horse Racing Board has already granted Ffos Las Racing Ltd 10 turf racing fixtures.

Greg Nichols, the senior BHB chief executive, was among the party of racing figures who met local authority officials and the owners of the land when they visited the site in March and confirmed that fixtures for the new course were guaranteed.

* Next Friday's meeting at Musselburgh has been moved to Ayr due to the dry autumn.