Musselburgh to become first Scottish track to host spectators with 250 crowd

Musselburgh will become the first Scottish racecourse to welcome back spectators on Tuesday with a crowd of 250 expected for the eight-race fixture.

According to the East Lothian track's general manager Bill Farnsworth, tickets sold out in five or six days, compared with the forthcoming fixture on Saturday week, which was a sell-out within 20 minutes.

Farnsworth said the team at Musselburgh is looking forward to welcoming back visitors, which he anticipates will be largely former annual members. The track typically caters for around 2,000 people on a midweek, midsummer card.

Musselburgh card on Tuesday

He said: "There's a huge amount of work gone on behind the scenes with the Racecourse Association and the Scottish Racing Group because we have different regulations up here.

"We will hopefully break even tomorrow, we may even lose a bit of money, but we regard it as an investment and the cost of recovering from Covid. We have to get going again, so it's a step in the right direction."

A crowd of 250 spectators will be on course at Musselburgh on TuesdayCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

After Tuesday's meeting, Musselburgh's safety advisory group could permit the course to welcome a larger crowd on Saturday week, in which case another batch of around 250 tickets would be released.

Although the weather across Britain has already caused the cancellation of cards at Windsor and Newton Abbot this week, Farnsworth does not foresee any problems.

The going is currently good to soft and showers are forecast. Due to it being an outdoor event, the indoor bars will not be open at the course, but Farnsworth said the grandstand will provide plenty of shelter for spectators.

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