Musselburgh Racecourse & Betting Review: Popular Events, Best Offers and Facts

Our neat, concise table (shown above) contains overall ratings of the best betting sites for wagering on events at the Musselburgh Racecourse as well as info relating to welcome bonuses, betting types and payout prices. As we continue further we will be focusing on reviewing some of the more general features of the venue. Information about the different types of races hosted there, the layout and structure of the track and some interesting facts relating to the hall of fame will be included so that by the time you’re through, you’ll be ready to go ahead and start betting with full confidence.

The Turf Itself

Musselburgh Racecourse offers both flat and National Hunt facilities and enjoys an ideal, coastal location. This means that it doesn’t always suffer from the harsh weather which can trouble the surrounding areas, so you’ll find that the show often goes on here while other venues are forced to abandon meetings. The flat course is right-handed and oval-shaped with sharp bends for races that go up to 9 furlongs. Agile, speedier customers are undoubtedly at an advantage here. The sprint track is 5 furlongs and, despite a slight uphill gradient, is one of the fastest in Scotland.

The jumps course is just over a mile all the way around with eight fences in total. Like it’s flat counterpart it’s mostly flat with nearly no undulations and has sharp bends – which again suits more nimble, faster front-runners, especially when the going is good.

Most Popular Musselburgh Horse Racing Events

Musselburgh horse racing operates all-year-round thanks to the flat and National Hunt racing facilities. As previously mentioned it’s Scotland’s second-biggest racing venue – the fourteenth-biggest in the UK – which means that there are some important events held here. The Edinburgh Castle Stakes, a Conditions Race for up-and-coming two-year-olds run over five furlongs; and the Scottish Sprint Cup, a highly prestigious race worth £100,000, were previously the showcase events at Musselburgh. In 2017, however, the Queen’s Cup – a fourteen-furlong stayer’s Handicap worth £100,000 – was added to the schedule and got off to a fantastic start.

Scotland’s Cheltenham Trials, a weekend meeting held in February, is also a popular event. It attracts the very best stables from Scotland and the rest of the British Isles and offers a whopping purse of £250,000! Be sure to keep a look out for special promotions at your favourite betting sites throughout the year as there are always odds price boosts and bet insurance deals up for grabs!

Some Interesting Facts

Musselburgh is a forward-thinking course that’s always looking to add new, exciting races to its roster. In 2017 two new races were added to the Musselburgh horse racing track: the Edinburgh National and the Queen’s Cup. The former is a gruelling four-mile race that’s held in preparation for the world-famous Aintree Grand National and some of the staying events at the Cheltenham Festival. It’s the longest race staged at Musselburgh and was first won by Dancing Shadow, an eight-year-old Irish thoroughbred with a starting price of 6/1.

Racecourse Information:
First Opened:	1816	Musselburgh Racecourse logo The Grandstand at Musselburgh Racecourse
Max. Race Distance:	4m 1f
Surface:	Turf
Event:	Scottish Sprint Cup
Average Temperature:	1°/19°
Racecourse Capacity:	10000

The other big race to have been recently inaugurated at Musselburgh is the Queen’s Cup. It was first to run on the Easter Saturday of 2017. The Queen gave her approval for the race to be named after her after she visited the venue the previous year. Those responsible for coming up with the idea of the race stated that they hoped the race would eventually become recognised as one of the key staying handicaps in the early season and perhaps rival events such as the Northumberland Plate and the Chester Cup. There is no doubt that the status of Musselburgh betting as a major market has been helped by the founding of these new events.

Musselburgh Racecourse: The Story so Far

Although there are records that show that horse racing had been taking place in Musselburgh as early as 1777, the current racecourse that we have come to know and love was formally opened in 1816. Musselburgh horse racing betting experienced a huge surge after World War II when the government loosened its laws around betting at the track; the course was packed out regularly and enjoyed regular packed-out crowds. With the rise of betting shops, however, its popularity waned and it suffered financial setbacks right up until the 1990’s.

These days, however, the Musselburgh horse racing track is in good health. As previously mentioned it has had a couple of high-quality and lucrative races added to its roster in recent years and significant investment has seen the course transform into a state-of-the-art venue. On average, around 70,000 people attend the track every year, with meetings selling out all-year-round. In 2011 it won the dual-purpose track prize at the Neil Wyatt Racecourse Groundstaff Awards, seeing off stiff competition from the internationally-renowned Ascot. Head on back to our racetracks throughout the UK hub for more fantastic reviews.