A NEW race commemorating Prince Philip will be launched next week at the opening meeting of Musselburgh Racecourse’s jumps season.
Racecourse bosses received Royal approval to mark the late Duke of Edinburgh’s visits to the course by staging the Prince Philip Perpetual Challenge Cup, a £25,000 stayers’ chase over three and a half miles.
Musselburgh’s 11-fixture National Hunt season gets underway on Wednesday (November 2) and highlights include the traditional New Year’s Day meeting, the bet365 Scottish Cheltenham Trials weekend in early February, and ending with the Go North festival in late March.
With advance ticket sales for New Year’s Day doing well, racecourse general manager Bill Farnsworth revealed the track capacity has been increased to 7,000.
He said: “We were heading for a sell-out last New Year’s Day but due to the pre-Christmas Covid spike the meeting had to be held behind-closed doors. That was obviously very disappointing, but we hope to build on this to kick off 2023 in great style.”
On top of an “excellent” race card, racegoers will have the added bonus of witnessing the running of the world’s oldest amateur athletics race as the famous New Year Sprint returns to Musselburgh after a short break.
The bet365 Scottish Cheltenham Trials over the weekend of February 4-5 will boast prize money of more than £250,000 with the Scottish County Hurdle and Edinburgh National races on the Saturday carrying purses of £40,000 and £50,000 respectively. The feature race on the Sunday is the Scottish Triumph Hurdle Trial which has increased prize money from £25,000 to £40,000.
Mr Farnsworth added: “This is Musselburgh’s only Class 1 race and with the support of the British Horseracing Authority, which recognised our Triumph Hurdle as a key prep race for the Cheltenham showpiece in March, we are delighted to have increased the prize fund.”
The Go North Race Day on Friday, March 24, closes Musselburgh’s jumps season and is part of a weekend festival of racing which includes Kelso and Carlisle racecourses. Go North celebrates the horses and trainers who have competed on the Northern circuit throughout the winter months.
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