'It kicks you in the teeth' - Musselburgh hit again as vandals cause £10,000 damage before New Year's Day meeting

Musselburgh's general manager Bill Farnsworth has spoken of the "demoralising" effect of the latest bout of vandalism to hit the track, which led to £10,000 worth of damage and an arrest on Tuesday. 

Vandals broke into the track on December 27 and slashed the panels of a marquee before wrecking a Volkswagen campervan inside the marquee repurposed to sell hot chocolate. 

Staff discovered the vandalism on Saturday morning and totalled the damages at approximately £10,000. East Lothian police made an arrest on Tuesday in relation to the incident after reviewing the course's CCTV footage.  

Farnsworth said: "We came in on Saturday morning and found the marquee, which we'd put up at the far end of the racecourse for our meeting on New Year's Day, with about 20 panels slashed with a knife while the Volkswagen campervan was also all smashed up. 

"The damage to the campervan was £6,000 and the damage to the marquee was about £4,000. We looked at the CCTV and we could see the people who did it had a Stanley knife, and the police arrested them on Tuesday.

"We just have to take it on the chin. We'd had overnight security since Saturday, but they broke in a day early – it's very frustrating. Everyone did brilliantly to get things fixed in time for Wednesday's meeting and there was no impact on the customers, but it's just so demoralising. It kicks you in the teeth."

Bill Farnsworth: Musselburgh general managerCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Friday's damage was the last in a string of incidents at the track in 2024. Alongside around 20 cases of vandalism, the course also gardening equipment worth a five-figure sum stolen in October. 

"It's a real problem here, but the police have been brilliant," said Farnsworth. "This time it was done by someone over 18, so the police were able to arrest them, whereas a lot of the previous vandalism has been done by younger people, so it's hard to do anything about it.

"Overnight security has cost us thousands of pounds, while repairing the damage has cost us well in excess of £20,000, probably more, plus another £10,000 this time. It's very difficult.

"Initially we were being broken into before racedays, when they might have thought there'd be booze. The alcohol is under lock and key now, so they've stopped breaking in before racedays and now just break in anytime. You can't secure the track either. It's bad in Musselburgh, but it's probably the same in other places."

Alongside the vandalism five days before Musselburgh's traditional New Year's Day meeting, the track also had to battle with heavy rainfall on the morning of the fixture, with 17 millimetres of rain since 7am on Wednesday causing flooding and a delay to racing in order to add Fibresand to a crossing on the chase course.

"We knew we just had to dig in and get it done," said Farnsworth. "It's been very challenging, particularly with the weather on top of this. 

"We had flooding through the roof into the owners' and trainers' grandstand, which I've never known to happen before. There was so much rain in such a short space of time on Wednesday that the water came into the marquee too. We had flooding there and the crossing on the track needed attention after the first race, which has also never happened before. 

"It meant we missed a race on ITV, which was disappointing. It was a really challenging day but everyone involved was really good; the jockeys, trainers, the officials and staff to get our second ITV race off on time. That took a lot of cooperation, and we pulled it off."

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'It's a dream come true' - bargain buys deny racing powerhouses to hand local owner a memorable double 

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