Musselburgh to stage trials card on Saturday

THE BHA'S call for jumps tracks who are able to race on Saturday to come forward has reaped rewards with Musselburgh set to stage an additional fixture that day.

Musselburgh were set to host their richest ever jumps fixture last Sunday but it was called off as parts of the track were frozen.

John Smith's Scottish Cheltenham Trials day will now be staged this Saturday with the first race off at 1.15pm. Entries for the seven-race card will close at noon Wednesday with declarations to be made by 10am on Friday.

The track's general manager Bill Farnsworth said: "It is a great example of the industry pulling together. We are finalizing details but it should be a £75,000 card again and we are hoping to stage the Scottish County Hurdle Trial at £20,000 again.   

"We only missed Sunday's card by a couple of hours and the forecast is for +2 overnight and 9C during the day on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday."

Nicky Henderson was among the high-profile trainers due to have runners at Musselburgh on Sunday, when his squad of five included potential Cheltenham Festival contenders Keys and Lyvius.

The BHA could also announce plans for an all-weather bumpers-for-jumpers card at Kempton on Friday, should the track lose its jumps meeting slated for that day.