WITH all eyes on the Epsom Derby on Saturday, Musselburgh Racecourse is doing its level best to grab a share of the attention with its £80,000 totesport.com Edinburgh Cup race day.
The East Lothian track’s richest meeting of the year, it has pulled in a high number of quality entries from Newmarket and northern stables and a near capacity crowd is expected.
Also the Channel 4 feature meeting of the day, Musselburgh boss Bill Farnsworth, is pleased his vision of establishing the Edinburgh Cup as a premier race for three years olds rated 0-105 is paying off.
Ultimately, Musselburgh hope to take the race up to £100,000 and the search is on for a sponsor to take over when the current deal with the Tote comes to an end after Saturday’s fixture.
Entries include horses from the stables of Saeed Bin Suroor, Ed Dunlop, Sir Mark Prescott, Mick Channon, David Elsworth, Richard Fahey and the top rated Namibian (103) from the powerful Mark Johnston stable.
The supporting card, the totepool Edinburgh Castle Condition Stakes is seen as a warm up for two year olds heading to Royal Ascot and again the big guns are entered, while the Scottish Sprint Cup is littered with first class sprinters including Kaldoun Kingdom, Le Toreador, Striking Spirit and previous winner Pavershooz.
Bill Farnsworth said: “Naturally, everyone is looking forward to the Derby but we are doing a not bad job of providing some first class racing by way of a warm up.
“With just under £200,000 in total prize money and £50,000 going to the Edinburgh Cup winner, it’s fair to say we have captured the attention of the leading yards in the north and south.
“We pulled in 6,500 race goers last year when we launched the Edinburgh Cup and we could go better this year with tickets selling well and heading for the 7,000 mark.
“With our Tradesmen’s Derby meeting on the Friday, this is one of the best weekend’s racing you will find at any Scottish track this season.
“We have been delighted with the tote’s support over the last two years and we hope to continue their good work with a sponsor who shares our ambition of making the Edinburgh Cup a £100,000 race.”
Ends
Issued on behalf of Musselburgh Racecourse by Sure Public Relations. For further information please contact Stephen Rafferty on 07980 598764 or email moreinfo@surepr.co.uk
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Contact: Stephen Rafferty
Phone: +44(0)7980 598764
Email: moreinfo@surepr.co.uk
Website: http://www.musselburgh-racecourse.co.ik
