Consortium completes €7m purchase of Maisons-Laffitte with view to restarting racing

The return of racing to Maisons-Laffitte moved another significant step closer on Wednesday when the course and its buildings were officially bought by the local authority in a deal worth €7.15 million.

France Galop staged its final meeting at the track in the western suburbs of Paris in November 2019 as part of cost-cutting measures, redistributing its 22 days of racing between Chantilly, Saint-Cloud, Longchamp and most notably Deauville, which now stages two key Classic trials, the Prix Djebel and the Prix Imprudence, which were previously signature races at Maisons-Laffitte.

While the governing body invested in a significant upgrade to the adjacent training centre, stopping racing at Maisons-Laffitte was put forward as a key element in eliminating France Galop's budget deficit.

Having fought the closure, the mayor of Maisons-Laffitte Jacques Myard formed a local public-private consortium with the aim of buying the racecourse and eventually bidding to get France Galop fixtures. Similar arrangements exist with the tracks at Fontainebleau and Compiegne.

In agreeing in principle to the sale last December, officials provided a detailed technical dossier of the requirements the new owners need to meet in order for them to be awarded meetings in the future.

At a mile and two furlongs, Maisons-Laffitte boasts the longest straight in Europe but the round course has proved more problematic in latter years, with problems of slipping leading to the loss of the right-handed bend in 2018. More dramatically, the River Seine burst its banks in June 2016 and again in January 2018, on both occasions flooding the entire track.

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