Musselburgh to welcome TV cameras for money-spinning day of racing

Musselburgh will stage one of the richest days racing in their history at Easter in the full glare of national TV.
The Scottish Sprint Cup has been revamped for 2019. Pic: TSPLThe Scottish Sprint Cup has been revamped for 2019. Pic: TSPL
The Scottish Sprint Cup has been revamped for 2019. Pic: TSPL

The East Lothian track puts on a card on Saturday, April 20 with more than £220,000 in prize money – including a revamped Scottish Sprint Cup – and will play host to the ITV racing coverage that afternoon.

“It is a chunky day and we are really looking forward to it,” said racecourse boss Bill Farnsworth. “ITV will screen four of our races and their top team will be here.”

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The big race is the third running of the £100,000 Queen’s Cup which is supported by the £30,000 Royal Mile stakes and the Scottish Sprint Cup which has been moved from its traditional summer slot in the Musselburgh calendar.

“It was our first really big race and has always been run in June, on the Saturday before Royal Ascot and the prize money rose over the years from a modest beginning to reach £100,00, but we lost that particular Saturday date to Chester last year.

“We weren’t able to switch it to our first June meeting because that was Derby Day and there would be a direct clash with the Epsom Dash, which kicks off the Derby card. So it formed part of our Ladies Day last year, but did not really work and it cost us money.

“We were left looking for a home for an event which has done much to raise the profile of Musselburgh and adding it to the Easter card seemed a good move. Certainly the BHA and the trainers seem really happy with that suggestion.

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“We felt we could not stage two £1000,000 races on the same day though, so the Sprint Cup will be worth around £50-60,000 this year, but trainers are still very happy. They reckon that while there are plenty of big opportunities for sprinters in high summer, there was a lack of valuable races in the early weeks of the season and so the race still seems guaranteed to get plenty of runners and prove a real spectacle.”

There will be no consolation race though for those who do not make the cut into the big race in which top sprinter Caspian Prince broke the track record last year.

Farnsworth is currently looking for a sponsor for the Sprint Cup, but with the race being screened nationwide on terrestrial TV, that should pose no problems and he is already in talks with two prospective supporters.

“The day will get the full works and some top stayers will also be on view in the Queen’s Cup,” he said. “It is the first leg of the major turf stayers programme and will attract horses who will be running later in top races like the Chester Cup, the Northumberland Plate and the £1m Ebor at York.

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“The weather last year was horrendous, but Easter is later this year and the track is in perfect condition. In fact we are currently watering the jump track and could stage the big day tomorrow and there would no complaints about underfoot conditions.”

Musselburgh will stage 16 days of flat racing this summer, beginning on Tuesday, April 2 – just four days after the traditional turf flat season curtain raiser on Doncaster’s Town Moor.