Musselburgh Races: Militia marches to victory

Big boost to prize money from 1 September

Trainer Paul Midgley saddled Militia to win the Musselburgh feature. Picture: PA

Militia, sent off at 3-1, gained a narrow success in the feature race at Musselburgh.

Trained by Paul Midgley and ridden by Graham Lee, he pipped Duke Of Firenze by half a length in the scottishracingacademy.org Handicap over five-furlongs.

Yorkshire-based Midgley said: “We got him last backend – he used to be with Richard Fahey – and he’s got plenty of toe. He likes it here and he enjoys a bit of juice in the ground as well.”

Veteran Economic Crisis rolled back the years as she gained her 15th victory on the 150th start of her career.

Alan Berry’s 11-year-old, returned 7-2 favourite, scrambled home by a neck under Harrison Shaw in the Watch On Racing TV Handicap to record her sixth course and distance strike.

“She’s quite a character and can often buck and like things her own way,” Harrison said. “Mind you she hasn’t done a lot wrong tonight and she seems to still have a fair bit of ability.

Meanwhile, minimum race values are set to increase from 1 September after the Horserace Betting Levy Board agreed to contribute £26.2 million to its prize money allocation for the last four months of the year.

Prize money was cut following the Covid-19 shutdown earlier this year, with HBLB spending around 25 per cent more than usual since the resumption on 1 June but it has now committed to an increase of 50 per cent on what was originally allocated for racing in September to December.

Of this sum, £24.4m will be paid as prize money with an additional £2.2m estimated for a reinstated appearance money scheme, which makes payments down to eighth place for eligible races.

The British Horseracing Authority has announced minimum values in the middle and grassroots tiers of British racing will return to their pre-Covid levels, while class one races and heritage handicaps will have 75 per cent of their levels from before the suspension.

The BHA also unveiled the revised fixture list for September through to Christmas, with a maximum of five meetings scheduled a day, with each card generally comprising of seven races, with one division permitted, although up to two races will be permitted to divide at floodlit fixtures.

A programme of five floodlit fixtures will be added to the six days in November where a break in the Flat fixture list had originally been planned to provide extra opportunities following the ten-week shutdown. Christmas and New Year cards will be reviewed nearer the time.

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