Musselburgh races: Easter Saturday programme cancelled because of rain

Easter Saturday Race Day at Musselburgh has been cancelled because of a waterlogged track.

The East Lothian track was deemed unsafe for jockeys and horses after it took 15mm of rain on Friday and a further 3.25mm on Saturday morning.

“It has been an incredibly wet winter and the ground is very wet,” said racecourse director Bill Farnsworth.

“Normally Musselburgh could handle this kind of weather but the water table must be so high, that’s not happened.”

Musselburgh’s eight-race fixture was set to be headlined by the Queen’s Cup and the Scottish Sprint Cup.

It was going to be the course’s first flat meeting of the year but it will now revert to jumping for its next fixture on Friday evening when it starts the Go North weekend.

“The ground is saturated in places and our priority must be the safety of the jockeys and the horses,” Farnsworth added.

“It is very disappointing, we had a brilliant day lined up for our race goers and we are sorry to have to abandon racing.”

All ticket holders will be contacted with information on how to transfer their booking to another meeting or to receive a full refund.