Musselburgh names new race after Queen in fixtures shake-up

The Queen’s Cup will be the feature race on a £200,000 card which launches a new Easter Saturday fixture on April 15, 2017.

In a shake-up of fixtures, Musselburgh has swapped its traditional Easter Sunday fixture with Ffos Las racecourse to allow it to extend the long-running Scottish Cheltenham Trials event in February in to a weekend festival, while the Good Friday fixture has been snapped up by ARC.

The Scottish Cheltenham Trials weekend (Feb 4-5) will boast prize money of £250,000 and a new four-mile race, the £40,000 Edinburgh National, will be the longest race ever run at Musselburgh and a preparation race for the big staying events at the Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National.

Musselburgh Racecourse chief executive Bill Farnsworth said: “We are delighted to have obtained the personal approval of The Queen to name a race in her honour following her recent visit to the course to mark our Bi-Centenary year.

“We hope to establish The Queen’s Cup as the Flat season’s first top quality staying handicap and, while it was disappointing to lose our Good Friday meeting, we are excited about the prospect of building a first-class Easter Saturday fixture.

“The swap with Ffos Las of our Easter Sunday meeting allows us to extend our highly-successful Scottish Cheltenham Trials to two days and,with more than £250,000 on offer, this will be another step forward in cementing Musselburgh’s credentials as a leading UK track.”