Musselburgh Racecourse is a horse racing venue located in the Millhill area of Musselburgh, East Lothian,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, UK, close to the River Esk. It is the second biggest racecourse in Scotland (the first being

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

) and is the fourteenth biggest in the UK. In 2016, Musselburgh staged 28 fixtures. It was officially known as "Edinburgh Racecourse", and referred to as such in the English press, until the beginning of 1996 but was widely referred to as "Musselburgh" in Scotland long before that and was widely referred to as Musselburgh in the racing pages of Scottish newspapers."To-day at Musselburgh", ''

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' page 11, 22 April 1963 The course offers both

flat racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

and

National Hunt In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: ...

meetings (though it only introduced jumping in 1987) and is 2 km long. In the middle of the course is a nine-hole golf course,

Musselburgh Links Musselburgh Links, The Old Golf Course in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland, is generally accepted as being one of the oldest golf courses in the world. The course is not to be confused with The Royal Musselburgh Golf Club or the Levenhall ...

, dating from at least 1672. The

Royal Musselburgh Golf Club The Royal Musselburgh Golf Club is a Golf club (institution), golf club at Prestongrange House, Prestongrange near Prestonpans, East Lothian, Scotland, on the B1361. Between 1774 and 1926, the club was based at Levenhall Links, Musselburgh. Hi ...

was founded there in 1774.

Location

The racecourse itself sits on Musselburgh

common good In philosophy, economics, and political science, the common good (also commonwealth, general welfare, or public benefit) is either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by c ...

land. It is situated on the eastern side of the town, less than a mile from the A1 and two miles from the

Edinburgh City Bypass The Edinburgh City Bypass, designated as A720, is one of the most important trunk roads in Scotland. Circling around the south of Edinburgh, as the equivalent of a ring road for the coastal city, it links together the A1 towards north-east Eng ...

. A road bridge over the Esk gives access to the course on race days only; the rest of the time, the gates are kept closed.

History

The first races in Musselburgh took place in 1777 under the auspices of the Royal Caledonian Hunt. Between 1789 and 1816, race meetings were held on the sands at

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

, although some races did still take place in the town. In 1816, they returned permanently to Musselburgh, to a course that had been laid out for them by the town council. The Hunt were so pleased with the new course that they distributed 50 guineas amongst the town’s poor. After the legalisation of off course betting shops in 1961, racecourse attendances went into decline. This hit Scotland particularly hard, with

Lanark Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...

and

Bogside The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The large gable-wall murals by the Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard Féile (an annual music and arts festival held in a former gasyard) are p ...

racecourses both going bankrupt. By the 1980s Musselburgh looked to be heading the same way, and, despite a temporary financial reprieve in 1987 when racecourses began to sell pictures of races to the betting shops, it was still losing money at the start of the 1990s. As a result, in 1991,

East Lothian Council East Lothian Council is one of the 32 local government councils in Scotland covering the East Lothian area. Since the last boundary changes in 2017, 22 councillors have been elected from 6 wards. History East Lothian District Council had been ...

took over the running of the racecourse from the Lothians Racing Syndicate Limited (LRS). The Council brought the racecourse to a breakeven position in one year. In 1994, the Council and the Lothians Racing Syndicate created the Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee (MJRC) to run the racecourse, a partnership which still exists today. The Council own the racecourse facilities and assets and the MJRC pay a full commercial rent for use of the land and facilities to both the Common Good Fund and ELC. From 1995 onwards, a £7.5 million refurbishment plan was put in place. This included a prestigious new hospitality stand (The Queen’s Stand), the refurbishment of the Edwardian Grandstand, the building of the Links Pavilion, a new weighing room and entrance complexes, a new parade ring, new stables and groundstaff facilities, extensive landscaping and improvements to the track itself. In 2012 an all weather strip was introduced to the track to prevent the bends being chopped up.

Attendances

Annual attendance is over 70,000 per annum, up from 38,000 in 1999. Ladies' Day in June is usually the biggest day with sell-out crowds of 10,000.

Awards

In 2011, Musselburgh won the Dual Purpose Award at the Neil Wyatt Racecourse Groundstaff Awards, beating the much bigger

Ascot Racecourse Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races a ...

into second place. Musselburgh Racecourse have also won a range of awards through the RCA Showcase Awards.

Notable races

* Queen of Scots Stakes (Listed race), 7 furlongs * William Hill Scottish Sprint Cup (Class 2 Heritage Handicap), 5 Furlongs. * Royal Mile (Class 2 Handicap), 1 Mile. * Edinburgh Cup (Class 3 Handicap), 1 Mile 4 Furlongs. * Queen's Cup (Class 2 Handicap), 1 Mile 6 Furlongs. * Edinburgh National (Class 2 Handicap Chase), 4 Miles.

References

External links

Official websiteBBC article on upgrading of the racecourseCourse guide on GG.COMCourse guide on At The Races
{{coord, 55, 56, 49.37, N, 3, 2, 22.18, W, type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in East Lothian Sports venues in East Lothian Tourist attractions in East Lothian Horse racing venues in Scotland Musselburgh Sports venues completed in 1816 1816 establishments in Scotland