Musselburgh could be closed for six months

Published on Tuesday 16 December 2008 21:18

RACING at Musselburgh could be put on ice for six months in 2010 if plans to carry out work on the track are given the green light.

Officials at the East Lothian venue are looking into the possibility of cambering the bend away from the grandstand in an effort to make it less of a tight turn, but to do that, the course will have to be closed and around eight Flat fixtures lost.

"We are always looking for ways to improve things at Musselburgh and improve the quality of racing on offer," explained general manager Bill Farnsworth. "The camber on the top bend could benefit from reconstruction but this is only one of three or four projects we are researching at the moment.

"If we were to go ahead with the work, the only way to get it completed is to close the course. York and Catterick have done something similar in the past and there is really no other alternative. It's still very early doors and all we are doing is researching what would need to be done and what costs are involved."

Farnsworth will canvass the opinion of trainers and jockeys before deciding whether or not to put the proposal before the next meeting in March of the Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee who run the course. Ten years ago, the bottom bend at the track underwent similar work at a cost of around 100,000 and it's estimated that price could now have doubled.

"Had we received planning permission for an all-weather, floodlit track, this work would have been carried out as a part of that process so it's something we have been thinking about," he added. To finance the project, Musselburgh would apply to the Levy Board for an interest-free loan, with the meetings lost moved elsewhere and basically auctioned off to the highest bidder. So, financially, losing them wouldn't blow a huge hole in the Musselburgh bank balance.

Transferring cards is nothing new of course and the Boylesports.com International, which was a victim of Cheltenham's abandonment at the weekend, will now be run as part of a seven-race card that will also include the Long Walk Hurdle and the Ladbroke, at Ascot on Saturday.

"This will probably be the greatest day's hurdling ever seen and we are happy to offer the full prize money of 200,000 as well as the 200,000 bonus for any horse who wins our race and goes on to land the Champion Hurdle," said sponsors' spokesman Leon Blanche.

Tricky Trickster won't win anywhere near as much should he score at Newbury this afternoon but he's the nap and any of those that win are just priceless.