Racing from Musselburgh: Keith Dalgleish doubles up

A review of the action from Musselburgh on Tuesday as Brian Hughes claimed his second treble in as many days.

Brian Hughes has enjoyed his trips to Scotland this season and after a treble at Ayr on Monday he repeated the feat at Musselburgh.

Hughes, who secured a five-timer at the East Lothian track in November, won both divisions of the Racing UK-sponsored maiden hurdle, on Idder (9/2) and Fattsota (4/6 favourite), and the closing bumper on Kevin Ryan's impressive Beyond The Clouds.

Idder may have been fortunate as the front-running Stipulate, who finished second, nearly came down at the third-last.

"I think I might have won anyway as I was going very well when the other horse made a mistake," said Hughes.

"To be fair, he was idling all the way up the straight.

"He was a decent horse on the Flat. Jimmy Moffatt's picked him up and he'll be a good, fun horse."

Fattsota was also decent on the level and won over hurdles at the second time of asking.

Hughes said: "David (O'Meara) said to try get something to go with him over the first but he's a good Flat horse and it would have taken a decent one to get by him.

"He could defy a penalty but I'll leave it up to the trainer to place him."

Beyond The Clouds (4/1) was by far the most impressive of the three horses, winning by 12 lengths on debut.

Brian Harding struck with the Keith Dalgleish-trained Dream Flyer (11/4) in the Alex Donaldson Memorial Handicap Chase, but missed a nice winner when stablemate Mixboy (6/4 favourite) jumped his rivals into submission in the Kilmany Cup Handicap Chase.

Harding took a fall in the previous race from Shotofwine, who, like Mixboy, is owned by Paul and Clare Rooney.

And while he suffered no lasting damage, it was thought best if he gave up his remaining rides on the card.

Craig Nichol was the lucky replacement aboard Mixboy, who won by 21 lengths, despite jumping out to his left,

Rooney told Racing UK: "That was a great run. It was a shame what happened in the previous race. Brian is fine and the horse will live to fight another day and win another day."

Tuesday's fixtures came hot on the heels of a New Year's Day record attendance as more than 6,400 racing fans saw in 2017 at the first meeting of the year.

The East Lothian track has been steadily building on its January 1 meeting and it is now well established as Scotland's largest New Year's Day sporting event.

For the first time, attendance broke through the 6,000 barrier and was up by 18% on the previous year from 5,415 to 6,406.

With more than £130,000 prize money on offer, including the feature £40,000 totepool Hogmaneigh Hurdle - won by Superb Story who now heads for the Cheltenham Festival - ITV were also broadcasting live as the station returned to covering British horseracing after a 30 year break.

The sell-out attendance was boosted by athletic fans enjoying the 148th running of the historic Racing UK New Year Sprint, which was won by 17-year-old Greg Kelly.

Musselburgh Racecourse chief executive Bill Farnsworth, said: "The day exceeded all expectations and we are delighted with how everything went. We had hoped for around 6,000 but with some fine sunshine and dry conditions people turned out in numbers and we have the foundations to make this one of Scotland's best race days.

"As always, we discover things we can do better and operationally we have identified several areas on which we can improve and we will make changes to ensure New Year's Day at Musselburgh continues to thrive."