Lying on the links on the seaward side of E Musselburgh, close to the River Esk and some 5½ miles (9 km) east of central Edinburgh is Musselburgh Racecourse. Often still referred to as the Edinburgh Races, meetings were originally held on Leith Sands, although the races moved to Musselburgh in 1816. This compact racecourse now hosts more than twenty race days in a year-round programme of both flat racing and national hunt meetings. It also hosts occasional harness racing fixtures. The course extends to 1 mile and 2 furlongs (1¼ miles or 2 km).
A new Queen's Stand was officially opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II in the summer of 1995 and acts as a venue for corporate hospitality. The old Edwardian Grandstand has been refurbished, and landscaping and other environmental improvement works have been carried out. Her Majesty visited again in 2016, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, to celebrate the racecourse's 200th anniversary.
In the centre of the course is a nine-hole golf course. There was a tradition of playing golf on the links with the Musselburgh Golf Course being founded here in 1774 and indeed the Open Championship was held on the links on a number of occasions in the late 19th C.
