Hilary Scotto, who has a near 22 per cent stake in Sedgefield racecourse, is lodging an appeal against a recent High Court decision to allow other shareholders to sell shares to Stan Clarke's Northern Racing company.
Mrs Scotto inherited her shares on the death of her husband Frank, chairman of the course for 19 years, and under the rules of Sedgefield Steeplechase Co, anyone who intends to transfer shares must tell the board which can then offer them to existing shareholders at an agreed price.
Most of the shareholders wanted to do a deal with Clarke, and when Mrs Scotto refused to sell her stake they tried to call a meeting to delete the pre-emption rights, but she won injunctions stopping the meeting
However after a hearing in London last month involving company law, Lord Hoffman ruled against her saying that the other shareholders were not in breach of the pre-emptive rule by entering into agreements with Northern Racing, nor were they bound to inform the board of any intention to sell.
But he intimated that the door was not completely closed ending his ruling by saying 'this was a difficult case which could easily have been decided the other way' and it was no surprise that this encouraged Mrs Scotto to take the matter further.
She said at the course today: "The appeal is in the hands of the legal people and they are pushing ahead - we will most definitely appeal, it may take a year, a year and a half, but I mean what does time matter?
There is no doubting her to seal victory in the battle with Clarke and added: "The course is very close to my heart, from tin huts to this and with the crowds we get here it is not easy to let go especially at the price it was sold for.
"We want more fixtures here not less. We have got very good sponsorship and even on a cold day like today we have got an excellent crowd and our prize money is excellent as well - we don't want to give it up and we still want to remain independent, we have a lot to offer being independent."
