WEBSITE: www.musselburgh-racecourse.co.uk

TWITTER: @MusselburghRace

INSTAGRAM: @musselburghracecourse

FACEBOOK: @MusselburghRacecourse

SKY BET SUNDAY SERIES DATE: Sunday 30th April 2023

LOCATION: Linkfield Road, Musselburgh, East Lothian, EH21 7RG

The first races in Musselburgh took place in 1777 under the auspices of the Royal Caledonian Hunt, with racing held on the sands at nearby Leith between 1789 and 1816. After an intervention from the town council, racing returned to the current site on Linkfield Road in 1816. With the racecourse struggling financially during the late 1980s/early 1990s, and with both nearby Bogside and Lanark having already closed, East Lothian Council took over the responsibility for the running of the racecourse.

Times have been brighter since with facilities vastly improved. The plush Queen’s Stand was built in 1995, and an all-weather bend was introduced to the jumps course in 2012 to offer greater protection to a well-used area of the racing surface. Since 2021, the racecourse has been operated and managed by the Chester Race Company. With a prime location close to Edinburgh – the racecourse once raced under this name – Musselburgh draws in sizeable crowds for its most popular fixtures which include the Edinburgh Cup, Royal Mile, Scottish Sprint Cup, and the Queen’s Cup.

Musselburgh is a right-handed track, which measures approximately 1m2f in circumference. Sharp bends are a key feature, with the home bend reshaped and nicely cambered for Flat racing.

From the final bend it is a four-furlong straight to the winning post. The five-furlong sprint (and the two mile) starts are down a chute in the general direction of the A1 motorway.

Close to the coast, the racecourse is well known for being a quick drying racing surface, and as a result the conditions are rarely testing.

Scottish-based trainers dominate at Musselburgh, with the East Renfrewshire handler Jim Goldie (9-86; 10%, -£29.92) and the South Lanarkshire handler Keith Dalgleish (9-82; 11%; -£18.75) sharing top honours on the Flat last year. Both are likely to saddle runners for the opening Sky Bet Sunday Series fixture, although Dalgleish has recently announced that he plans to take a break from training later in the year.

Tim Easterby (7-50; 14%, -£17.27), Karl Burke (6-22; 27%, +£4.70) and Grant Tuer (5-17; 29%, +£14.12) were others to enjoy a fair degree of Musselburgh success in 2022. Northallerton-based Tuer was a keen supporter of and provided a regular source of winners across the 2022 Sky Bet Sunday Series.

Racing TV Ambassador Paul Mulrennan has enjoyed plenty of success across the three Scottish Flat tracks - Musselburgh, Hamilton and Ayr - in recent years, and was indeed crowned top jockey at Musselburgh (12-64; 19%, +£1.60) in 2022. The vastly experienced Mulrennan is a real force to be reckoned with and will no doubt be targeting more Sky Bet Sunday Series glory in 2023.

Sam James (7-39; 18%, +£5.82) and Scottish-born Andrew ‘Midge’ Mullen (7-68; 10%; -£19.45) were others to enjoy a successful season at Musselburgh, while Jason Hart (5-18; 28%; +£7.47) and the 5lb claimer Ryan Sexton (5-21; 24%; +£0.40) also fared well. Hart struck up an excellent rapport with Evaluation (Keith Dalgleish) who was the flagbearer of last year’s Sky Bet Sunday Series.

"Musselburgh is a track where you need to be on the front end as they don’t tend to come back to you. However, the course itself is a lovely track to ride."

“Musselburgh is a very sharp, right-handed track where it usually pays to be on the front end, especially if you can get a soft uncontested lead. However, at the same time, it is a lot longer home straight than most people think, and a race can often change quickly inside the final furlong. The bends (especially the camber) ride very well, but with the long home straight you do need to make sure that you get your fractions right.”

Those who appreciate racing close to the pace thrive around Musselburgh, and it is a track where specialists can run up a sequence, continually defying the attentions of the handicapper. Smart Lass (5-9; 56%), Gometra Ginty and Primo’s Comet (both 5-21; 24%) being prime examples over the last five years.

Four individual horses - Canaria Prince (Tim Easterby), Bicep (Grant Tuer), Eeh Bah Gum (Kevin Ryan) and El Picador (Keith Dalgleish) – were unbeaten at Musselburgh in 2022. All were successful on two occasions each with the Sir Ian and Ms Catriona Good-owned El Picador winning a Sky Bet Sunday Series Middle-Distance Handicap by a cosy one-and-a-half lengths.

Musselburgh staged the third Sky Bet Sunday Series fixture of the season.

Finn’s Charm (Charlie and Mark Johnston) justified favouritism in the opening 7f maiden before the Irish raider Only Spoofing (2-3 at Musselburgh in 2023) took the 5f Apprentices’ Handicap. Kevin Thomas Coleman’s charge had finished a fine third in the valuable Scottish Sprint Cup a mere 24 hours earlier.

Keith Dalgleish enjoyed a stellar afternoon courtesy of a double with Evaluation (Jason Hart) and El Picador (Ryan Sexton). Evaluation was scoring for the second time in the Series after success at York a fortnight earlier and was chasing a £100,000 bonus for being the first horse to win three races in the Sky Bet Sunday Series.

Sophie’s Star (Roger Fell) held off a luckless Le Beau Garcon to spring a 40-1 surprise in the three-year-old Sprint Handicap, with Snooze and You Lose (Karl Burke) and Mister Bluebird (Heather Main) taking the other races on the seven-race card.