Musselburgh
In the beginning…1816 in Musselburgh’s case… Racecourses were established essentially as sporting venues for the very rich and the aristocracy – hence the name ‘Sport of Kings’ – to race their horses against one another. They attracted huge crowds but were non-commercial enterprises. Even as recently as the 1950’s, post war Britain was hungry for entertainment and Racecourses offered the only source for a legal bet and attracted massive crowds. At Musselburgh crowds in excess of 15,000 were common place and people were packed in like sardines! Racing was still very much ‘The Sport of Kings’ and Racecourses did not require to be commercially operated.
