Margarson chasing Chelmsford history with Guest
The Essex circuit, formerly known as Great Leighs, closed in January 2009 after going into administration less than a year after it launched, but the gates will be reopened this weekend.
A total of 62 horses have been declared for the historic first meeting, with Rebellious Guest the joint top-rated on the card as he bids to defy top-weight in the opening Betfred Handicap over a mile and a quarter.
Margarson said: “I had a few runners there when it was Great Leighs and a few seconds without having a winner. It obviously wasn’t around for very long.
“I always thought it was a good track and a good surface. I always found our horses ran to form there.
“It’s a good bit closer to us than somewhere like Wolverhampton, which has to be a good thing.”
Rebellious Guest faces seven rivals in the first of seven races and Margarson acknowledges his charge has plenty on his plate as he aims for a slice of history.
“I was hoping there’d be a couple above him to keep the weights down, but he was third at Kempton last year when they broke the track record with 9st 10lb on his back, so he doesn’t seem to mind carrying weight,” said the trainer.
“There are a couple of improvers in the race, but I think the track will suit him as it’s a galloping track and he’s in good shape, so we’ll see what happens.”
Racegoers will not have to wait long for the second of 58 scheduled fixtures in 2015, however, as the next one is a twilight meeting on January 22.
Marketing director Ben Turnbull said: “We’re just putting the finishing touches to one or two things but everything is teed up and we can’t wait to get going.
“This has been a two-year project and everyone on the team has worked amazingly hard to get us to this position.
“We have various invited guests, press and different people coming on Sunday and obviously the majority of things here are new. We have a number of live systems, like the ticketing for instance, and the idea is to make sure everything is right for when the paying customers start coming from the next meeting. We want to make sure we’re offering a first-class service.”
