Musselburgh finalise plans for busy 2012

It’s still eight months away but tickets for Musselburgh Ladies Day have gone on sale as the East Lothian course yesterday announced a packed 2012 fixture list featuring 15 flat and nine jump meetings.

With capacity increased to 9,000, Musselburgh will create a modern-day attendance record if Ladies Day on 15 June repeats the success of the last six years and again sells out.

Highlights of the winter jumps season includes the now traditional New Year’s Day meeting and the John Smith’s Scottish Cheltenham Trials day on 5 February, which is firmly positioned on the racing calendar as a tester for the Cheltenham Festival proper. Musselburgh also confirmed Easter Saturday will become a permanent fixture and, sitting alongside the course’s popular Easter Sunday Family Day, the aim is to establish an Easter racing festival. With two races to be featured on Channel 4 and the only other flat meeting on all-weather, the Easter Saturday date is sure to attract some of the country’s leading trainers and jockeys.

Musselburgh general manager, Bill Farnsworth, said: “Our hope is to make Musselburgh Gold Cup Day on Easter Saturday and our Easter Sunday Family Day a weekend racing festival which becomes firmly associated with Musselburgh and is an annual highlight. After the flat season starts at Doncaster with the Lincoln meeting, there is a bit of a lull before the Guineas Festival at Newmarket and we feel we can give racing fans a quality meeting which goes some way to filling that gap.”

Musselburgh is looking to build on the success of its Edinburgh Cup Day which again will be run on Derby Day (2 June) and Farnsworth is keen to secure a sponsor for Scotland’s second richest flat race.

Rebranded as Scotland’s Premier Race Day to reflect the quality of the entries and trainers in attendance, the long-term objective is to establish the Edinburgh Cup as a £100,000 race.