ENTREPRENEUR Sir Stanley Clarke, whose business interests included Chepstow Racecourse and the firm behind the regeneration at Llanwern, died yesterday aged 71.

He was president of the company behind Chepstow Racecourse and former chairman of developers St Modwen Properties. He died after a four-year battle with cancer.

In February St Modwen announced plans to redevelop the 600-acre 'heavy end' of the Corus site at Llanwern, which it bought for £17.5m.

It plans to invest £200m to build 1,700 homes and offices, creating 7,000 jobs in the second largest development in Wales after Cardiff Bay.

Sir Stanley, a horse racing enthusiast, acquired nine racecourses and helped transform Chepstow through a £11m revamp.

Steve Clare, executive director at Chepstow Racecourse, said today: "I've worked very closely with him for four years.

"He's been enormously influential. He was passionate about the business of racing. He realised that unless racecourses operated on business principles they were unsustainable.

"It was his vision to turn Chepstow into a racecourse second only to Cheltenham. He could be a very tough taskmaster but he set very high standards for himself too."

Sir Stanley was also heavily involved with charitable causes, particularly animal welfare groups and those restoring Lichfield Cathedral.

Knighted in 2001, he was born at Burton on Trent in Staffordshire and started as a plumber before moving into property development. He leaves a wife Hilda, three daughters and a son.