Cheltenham winner amongst entries for Coral Scottish National.
Chicago Grey, winner of the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham is one of 80 entries for the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr Racecourse on Saturday April 16.
Gordon Elliott's 10 year old will bid to become the first Irish trained winner of the race since it was moved to Ayr from Bogside in 1966. Tim Vaughan's Beshabar, second to Chicago Grey is also entered in the £180,000 race, but Vaughn has yet to confirm his charge is a definite runner.
The Sir Alex Ferguson owned What A Friend is another entry although Paul Nicholls is likely to aim his Cheltenham Gold Cup fourth at the John Smith's Grand National a week earlier, but if the ground at Aintree goes soft, What A Friend could still appear at Ayr. Even if What A Friend runs in the John Smiths Grand National, Paul Nicholls could still be well represented at Ayr, as he has also entered Neptune Collonges, Niche Market and The Minack.
Midlands Grand National winner Minella Four Star from the David Pipe yard, Ferdy Murphy pair Poker de Sivola and Gallant Nuit are also entered as is last year's winner Merigo from Andrew Parker's stable and the 2008 victor Iris de Balme now with Joanna Davis.
Entries were also lodged yesterday for the Isle Of Skye Blended Whisky Scottish Champion Hurdle and include last year's winner Overturn from the Donald McCain yard, Colin Tizzard's Cue Card, Get Me Out Of Here from the Jonjo O'Neill stable and the Alan King trained pair Mille Chief and Salden Licht.
Advance ticket sales for the Coral Scottish Grand National Festival on April 15 and 16 are selling fast and discounts are still available up until seven days in advance. To book go online at www.ayr-racecourse.co.uk or call 01292-264179.
Silver Jubilee for Back A Winner By Train.
All geared up to begin on Friday, 01 April, for the twenty-fifth consecutive year, the ‘Back a Winner by Train’ promotion is set to be as popular as ever. The scheme enables racegoers using the train to gain £4 off admission into the Grandstand, Paddock or County Enclosures at participating racecourses in the North of England and Scotland, apart from York which remains at a discount of £3, but includes the prestigious four-day ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ Ebor Festival in August.
Backed by First TransPennine Express, Northern Rail and First ScotRail, the ‘Back a Winner by Train’ promotion features almost 200 days of racing at 12 courses - Beverley, Carlisle, Cartmel, Doncaster, Hamilton Park, Hexham, Musselburgh, Newcastle, Pontefract, Redcar, Thirsk and York.
In addition to savings on admission, racegoers have the opportunity of obtaining £2 off a toteplacepot bet of £5 or more. This will be part of the voucher racegoers can claim when buying their travel for the races at 100 stations across the north.
The promotion runs from 01 April until 29 December.
James Brennan, Head of Marketing and Sponsorship at York Racecourse said:
“People and businesses often celebrate their silver jubilee with a trip to the races, so it is nice to be celebrating 25 happy years ourselves. The partnership with the rail industry has brought racegoers to the region’s tracks in increasing numbers and we look forward to working in partnership for many more years.”
Musselburgh add cut price ticket option.
Musselburgh Racecourse has ‘sold out’ 6000 free tickets for its opening flat meeting on Friday April 01.
The East Lothian course offered free entry as part of a month long initiative by Racing for Change involving 25 UK racecourses.
All the ‘free tickets’ have been snapped up, but race goers turning up on the day can share in the good news, there will be special tickets priced £10 instead of the normal £21 on offer for the 01 April Meeting.
Musselburgh Racecourse commercial manager, Sarah Montgomery, said:
“The free offer has been a great success and we are sure of a bumper crowd with a superb atmosphere on our first day of our flat season.
“We recognise not everyone may have been aware of the free offer and some race goers will be travelling a distance to Musselburgh so there will be limited tickets on sale on the day at the reduced price of £10.”
The Racing for Change promotion follows a similar programme last year which brought in an additional 40,000 visitors to the races. This time 28 fixtures, spread throughout April, will offer free entry at some of the UK’s leading courses including, Musselburgh and Perth (first 500) in Scotland, and Ascot, Epsom Downs, Newbury, Newmarket and Sandown Park.
Racing boost for Scottish Charities.
Scottishcharities received a shot in the arm from last year's busiest ever Saints and Sinners Racenight at Ayr Racecourse.
Over 10,000 attended the night last June which mixed racing with a performance from Alexandra Burke after the last race.
Almost £34,000 was raised for charity and will be distributed among the many charities the Saints and Sinners committee support.
Ayr Racecourse Finance Director David Brown handed over a cheque to Fred Macaulay from the Saints and Sinners Committee and former Miss Scotland Aisling Pearson before the recent Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce dinner at the racecourse.
Philip Martin, Racing Convenor for Saints and Sinners commented :
“This fantastic contribution reflects Ayr's hard work and terrific support from racegoers. Saints and Sinners looks forward to working with Ayr's management to continue to grow the meeting and expand the amount we raise for over 120 small Scottish charities each year.”
Saints and Sinners Racenight was moved to Ayr from Hamilton in 2008 after 42 years at the Lanarkshire track and is now Ayr's third busiest fixture of the season, and for your diaries, Saints and Sinners Racenight 2011 will be held on Friday 17 June.
Gold Standard for Musselburgh.
Musselburgh Racecourse has become the latest racecourse to receive the Racehorse Owners Association’s Gold Standard award. The award recognises overall excellence in the raceday experience for owners, their horses and stable staff.
Musselburgh joins 16 other current holders of the coveted award, each of which is reviewed annually.
Musselburgh’s prize-money for the past 12 months stands at £1.18 million. Their executive and sponsorship contributions for the same period amount to 36% of their overall prize-money pool, putting them tenth in the list of all courses.
Steven Astaire, ROA Council member and Gold Standard Committee member, said:
“We are very pleased to present the Gold Standard award to Musselburgh. It is well deserved and is a fitting testament to the high-quality raceday experience offered to owners. Musselburgh’s prize-money performance and new stabling are particularly commendable.”
Bill Farnsworth, general manager at Musselburgh, commented:
“Since 1995 we have made significant investment at Musselburgh as part of a master plan to become one of the best small racecourses in the country, and we are delighted that this investment has resulted in a Gold Standard award from the Racehorse Owners Association. Racehorse owners are one of our most important customer groups at Musselburgh and we are pleased to have attained their Gold Standard for customer service.”
Property Race Day at Ayr.
Ayr stages a Property Raceday on Thursday 24 February with a seven race card which has attracted good entries and should provide competitive racing.
The feature races of the day are the Play Poker At Victorchandler.Com Handicap Chase due off at 3.55 pm and the Play Casino At Victorchandler.com Handicap Chase 35 minutes later.
A host of top conditional jockeys are due to ride in the opener the victorchandler.com Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle including Harry Haynes, Peter Carberry, Ryan Mania and Zander Voy while there is also the first Hunters Chase of the season at Ayr at 5.00 pm.
First race is at 2.20 pm with gates open at 12.20 pm and the final race will be run at 5.30 pm. For more information call 01292-264179 or go online at www.ayr-racecourse.co.uk
Musselburgh opt for quality in 2011.
Officials at Musselburgh Racecourse have introduced two weekend racing festivals in 2011 as they opt for quality over quantity,
The East Lothian course will race 24 times, down three meetings from last year, but general manager Bill Farnsworth has indicated he was pleased the new fixtures gave the opportunity to raise the standard of racing at Musselburgh, and elaborating, he said:
“We have reduced the number of mid-week afternoon meetings which served the bookmaking industry but were no longer producing a fair return for racing at Musselburgh. Instead we have gone for fixtures of a higher quality which should bring more racing fans through the gates,”.
While four flat meetings have been shed, Musselburgh gains a Saturday flat fixture on September 3 with £100,000 in prize money, including the £50,000 Scottish Sprint Cup which moves from its traditional June date.
For the first time the Easter Sunday weekend will become a two day fixture and includes the Musselburgh Gold Cup meeting (April 23-24) while the highly popular Ladies Day meeting on Friday June 17 will be looking to secure a fourth sell out in succession.
Seasoned race goers will be delighted that the Edinburgh Cup, introduced this year and which attracted some of the best trainers and horses in the UK, will be preceded with a Friday race day (June 3-4) and have a prize fund of £200,000.
The two standout fixtures in the National Hunt season are the well established Cheltenham Festival Trials Day, taking place on Sunday 06 February, and the New Year’s Day meeting for 2012, which will include two quality races which will be broadcast by Channel 4.
Giving an overview, Bill Farnsworth commented:
“Doubling up at weekends allows us to attract the better English and Irish stables who will be more willing to send horses the longer distance as its increasing their opportunity to race while minimising costs.
“In this case, less really is more, and without doubt the new fixture list means we will be bringing to Musselburgh the highest quality fields in recent history. We are all delighted with the way it has turned out and hopefully our enthusiasm will be mirrored in attendance figures.”
The 2011-12 Seasonal Highlights:
Sunday Feb 6: John Smith’s Scottish Cheltenham Trials
Sat-Sunday April 23-24: Musselburgh Gold Cup; Easter Sunday Family Day
Friday May 20: Radio Forth’s Boogie Boogie Night
Friday-Sat June 3-4: Edinburgh Cup weekend
Friday June 17: Musselburgh Ladies Day
Friday July 29: Racing family evening
Saturday Sept 3: Scottish Sprint Cup
Sunday Sept 25: Royal Scots Family Day
Sunday Jan 1: New Year’s Day Race Meeting 2012.
