Musselburgh Racecourse is celebrating a New Year’s Day record attendance as more than 6400 racing fans saw in 2017 at the first meeting of the year.
The East Lothian track has been steadily building on its 1 January race meeting and it is now well established as Scotland’s largest New Year’s Day sporting event.
For the first time, attendance broke through the 6000 barrier and was up by 18% on the previous year from 5415 to 6406.
With more than £130,000 prize money on offer, including the feature £40,000 totepool Hogmaneigh Hurdle – won by Superb Story who now heads for the Cheltenham Festival – ITV were also broadcasting live as the station returned to covering British horseracing after a 30 year break.
The sell-out attendance was boosted by athletic fans enjoying the 148th running of the historic Racing UK New Year Sprint, which was won by 17-year-old Greg Kelly.
Musselburgh Racecourse chief executive Bill Farnsworth, said: “The day exceeded all expectations and we are delighted with how everything went. We had hoped for around 6000 but with some fine sunshine and dry conditions people turned out in numbers and we have the foundations to make this one of Scotland’s best race days.
“As always, we discover things we can do better and operationally we have identified several areas on which we can improve and we will make changes to ensure New Year’s Day at Musselburgh continues to thrive.”
The Edinburgh Reporter was there on New Year’s Day and it was a cracking atmosphere, as it always is at Musselburgh. Little wonder it’s one of the best small race courses in Britain.
For more information please visit the course website
Musselburgh Racecourse’s Facebook page can be found here
Twitter: @musselburghrace
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