MUSSELBURGH kick off their new flat season on Easter Sunday with 17 days of summer sport ahead in what promises to be an interesting season.
The East Lothian track have bounced back from the body blow which saw the denial of their plans for a £12m all-weather floodlit track and are pushing ahead with another scheme to update and rebuild various facilities.
The £2.2m scheme includes the
building of a completely new stable block along with stable staff facilities and a works complex for the groundstaff on land near the entrance to the back straight which is currently used for car parking.
Successful punters can toast to their good luck in a new champagne bar near the weighing room complex and plans are afoot to extend the whole spectator area for one of the track's biggest fixtures – Ladies Day on Saturday, June 7th.
"It was a complete sell-out last year when we had a record crowd of 7,200 and we could have sold many more tickets," said racecourse boss Bill Farnsworth. "So we are planning to extend the enclosures on a temporary basis for that particular day to increase crowd capacity to 8,000"
Planning permission is about to be sought for the new stables and Farnsworth explained: "Our stables near the High Street are in very dilapidated condition and the new stable yard was part of our plans for the all-weather.
"That has all gone, but we still need to address the stabling problems and this new facility will give us an extra 12 stables – 105 in total – along with new facilities for staff."
Much of the work will be carried out by East Lothian Council and it is expected that the old stable yard will duly be redeveloped to fit into the landscape of the town centre and High Street.
Sunday's fully-sponsored card will have £60,000 in prize money with the £20,000 totesport Musselburgh Gold Cup as the feature, while there will be £100,000 on offer on Ladies Day.
It falls on the same afternoon as the Epsom Derby and Musselburgh will again run their own "Class" – the £30,000 Tradesmans' Derby which proved popular last year. A major new charity meeting is scheduled for the evening of Monday, June 30th when the track is aiming to raise cash for the Macmillan Cancer charities.
"We shall be aiming to donate a portion of the gate receipts to this worthy cause, so will be looking for a big turnout and there will be lots of things going on," said Farnsworth.
The ever-popular Hearts Racenight has been arranged for the evening of Thursday, July 31st. This is the third year of the link with the Tynecastle club and as it falls just a week before the new soccer season begins, most of the club playing squad will be there.
September embraces the Edinburgh holiday fixture and a family day on Sunday, September 28th, while the biggest race of the year – the Scottish Sprint Cup – will be staged at the penultimate flat fixture of the year on Saturday, October 11th.
"It's a day which has been transferred from York," explained Farnsworth.
"They have a huge drainage scheme starting in the second half of the season, so we agreed to help and swapped one of our June days, when we would normally stage the sprint, for their October date.
"It's an arrangement which helps us both, especially as the cut-back in Levy Board funds means our total prize money has fallen this year – in common with virtually everyone else.
"But we are always alert to ways of improving things here and are looking forward to some excellent racing in the coming months."
The full article contains 628 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
