Horse Racing: Free ticket plan pulls in the punters

Published on Wednesday 30 March 2011 11:51

Musselburgh are expecting a bumper crowd for their "free day at the races" tomorrow after the 6,000 free tickets for the meeting were snapped up in ten days.

The fixture is the first of an April initiative by Racing for Change in which 25 of Britain's racecourses will take part in an effort to take racing to the wider public.

"We were staggered by the speed at which the 6,000 free tickets went," said racecourse boss Bill Farnsworth. "They were limited to four per application and so we may not get 6,000 through the gate as the weather may put some people off. We are expecting around 5,000 and we hope to benefit from repeat business throughout the year. The Saturday is a new addition to our fixture list and we shall be putting on a great card which includes the Musselburgh Gold Cup and two other 20,000 races. And anyone attending tomorrow will get a discount voucher for 5 off entry to our Easter Sunday meeting."

Some extra tickets will also be available tomorrow for those who were unaware of the free initiative or who are travelling a long distance to get to the meeting and they will cost 10 instead of the normal 21 entry fee - still a bargain.