Musselburgh feel the pinch

OFFICIALS at Musselburgh have admitted the worst spate of abandonments in more than a decade is starting to hit the course financially, but remain hopeful they can stage some extra fixtures to recoup losses.

The jumps meetings that had been scheduled for today and tomorrow were ditched yesterday after a morning inspection at the partly frostbound East Lothian course, taking the number of meetings called off at the venue to five in three weeks.

The Saturday fixture had been scheduled at short notice as a 'bonus' meeting by the British Horseracing Authority due to the number of National Hunt fixtures lost elsewhere, but Musselburgh ended up succumbing to the same fate as other frozen courses south of the Border.

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General manager Bill Farnsworth said he had not experienced such a cold and costly winter at the course in his ten years at Musselburgh, but said the course was on standby to host extra jumps meetings if conditions ease as expected.

"The forecast is for it to get milder and if we are raceable next week and the rest of the country is not, then the BHA may well ask us to step in," said Farnsworth.

The double postponement yesterday means Musselburgh has lost five fixtures, albeit one of them was an extra fixture, and has no added financial implications. The jumps meetings scheduled for 21 and 29 December and the prestigious New Year's Day fixture were also called off. The fixture on 7 December was the last time jumps racing took place in Scotland, with Ayr and Kelso also losing fixtures over the past month.

Farnsworth added: "We do factor in the possibility of losing fixtures to the weather, and the annual average has usually been one, but now that we've lost four or five this time around it is particularly bad. It is definitely starting to bite (financially]. You just have to grin and bear it. We are always aware that bad winters are a possibility, but this is the worst one I can remember in my ten years here."

Earlier in the week officials at Musselburgh were predicting a rise in temperatures due to favourable forecasts, so much so that they were given the extra meeting for tomorrow. However, the track was hit by a fresh snowfall on Wednesday night, which was the final nail in the coffin.

Clerk of the course Anthea Morshead said: "We are very disappointed but ... we have to be fair to everybody and let them know where we stand."

Barring the first ever all-weather all-bumper card at Southwell on Wednesday, there has been no National Hunt racing anywhere on British soil since Plumpton's Sussex National meeting on 3 January. But that could all change tomorrow, with officials at Kempton and Huntingdon confident of racing over the sticks. And Ffos Las passed an inspection yesterday morning for their jumps meeting on Sunday.