Scotland Hosts 100-Year-Old Race

Musselburgh Racecourse in Scotland this weekend plays host to one of the UK and Ireland’s richest and most prestigious harness racing meetings

, the Famous Musselburgh Pace Cup.

Harness racing is an old friend to the thoroughbred racecourse and has been run under the auspices of the Musselburgh Fair Day Association since at least 1893. Until this year the meeting was held on a Tuesday and Wednesday to tie in with the original annual “trades holiday” but moving with the times and to appeal to a wider audience the fixture has been moved to the weekend.

With a £60,000 prize fund over the weekend, the Saturday evening meeting includes the six heats and final of the £6000 Hurricane Pace plus a two-year-old event and a trotting race.

The Sunday afternoon meeting features the heats and final of the £15,000 Famous Musselburgh Pace Cup and three invitational races, the Spitfire Pace for three year olds (£2500); Whirlwind Pace for four-year-olds (£6000) and Tornado International Pace for four-year-olds and over (£10,000) which will be televised on Racing UK and in UK and Irish betting shops.

“This is the premier UK harness racing meeting and everyone wants to win at Musselburgh,” said Jim Kemp, president of the Musselburgh Fair Day Association. “We will have entries from all over the UK and Ireland vying to get their hands on the Musselburgh Pacer title. We hope that working closely with the racecourse and by moving the event to a weekend that we are opening up the sport to new followers.”

"Musselburgh is the most important meeting of the year,” said Gordon Garnett, Chairman of British Harness Racing Club. “There are one or two in Wales that might say different, but it's the oldest meeting, it's the most difficult to win, and it's generally the richest and most prestigious to win. The Famous Musselburgh Pace takes precedence over any other race."

“We are delighted to be working with the Musselburgh Fair Trade Association in building up this historic meeting and maintaining its position as the harness racing equivalent of the Derby,” said Bill Farnsworth, Musselburgh Racecourse general manager.

Ireland sends over some of the biggest challengers for the Pace crown and having cleaned up the prizes at the annual harness racing festival on grass at Aberystwyth in Wales earlier this month, the raiding Irish charges look like the ones to beat again.

Adding to the family atmosphere, a range of carnival rides and free attractions will keep kids of all ages occupied, and free entry to all kids aged 16 and under accompanied by an adult will assist the family budget.

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(Musselburgh Racecourse)