Musselburgh bags extra race meeting '“ and entry is free

With Leicester Racecourse forced to abandon their card scheduled for that afternoon because of hard ground, Musselburgh have stepped in.

“We are planning a seven-race card with gates opening at 11.00am,” said Musselburgh boss Bill Farnsworth.

The East Lothian track had responded to a message from the British Horseracing Authority – who run the sport – inviting other racecourses to apply to take over the fixture.

“We raced on the first two days in November and are scheduled to race again on November 25, so this new date dropped in perfectly between those scheduled fixtures and we offered to step into the breach,” explained Farnsworth. 
“The ground staff are already hard at it getting things into place and the going here is good today. We have some rain forecast for the weekend, so it should be perfect jumping ground come Monday.

“It is important that racing keeps a full programme going for the off-course betting industry from whence we get a large part of our funding and Musselburgh are always willing to help if possible.

“It’s also a nice bonus for our regulars – especially as it will be free.”