Chelmsford City Racecourse has announced its richest ever race - offering prize money of £100,000.

Saturday's Betfred Chelmsford City Cup will be a landmark for the Great Leighs course, with the total race being worth £224,000 to competitors.

This makes it the second most valuable fixture of the year, just behind one in June, which was Britain’s richest evening meeting.

Racecourse manager Fraser Garrity said: “The team is thrilled to reach another landmark at the racecourse by staging our first ever six figure race and we’re really pleased with the quality of the 37 initial entries for the second running of the Betfred Chelmsford City Cup.

"Hopefully it will be a maximum field of 16 runners on Saturday night.

“Our prize money this year will be well over £5 million and we’ll continue to do our very best for horsemen across our racing programme, whether it’s a top class handicap such as Saturday’s main event, or grass roots Class 5 and 6 contests - which we’re now well-known for running at the maximum level permitted.”