History began when the first races in Musselburgh took place in 1777 under the auspices of the Royal Caledonian Hunt. Between 1789 and 1816, race meetings were held on the sands at Leith, while in 1816, they returned permanently to Musselburgh, to a course laid out for them by the town council.

However, it had suffered losses that, as a result, East Lothian Council took over the management of the racecourse from the Lothians Racing Syndicate Limited (LRS) in the year 1991. In 1994, the Council and the Lothians Racing Syndicate created the Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee (MJRC) to run the racecourse, a partnership that still exists today. The Council owns the racecourse facilities and assets, and the MJRC pays a full commercial rent to use the land and facilities to both the Common Good Fund and ELC.

It is a horse racing venue which formerly known as Edinburgh Racecourse, situated at Linkfield Road, Musselburgh, East Lothian, EH21 7RG, in the Millhill area of Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland, UK, close to the River Esk. It is the second biggest racecourse in Scotland (the first being Ayr) and the UK’s fourteenth biggest. It is also Scotland’s only 5* Visitor Attraction Racecourse that is firmly established as one of the UK’s most stylish racecourses.

In 2011, it won the Dual-Purpose Award at the Neil Wyatt Racecourse Groundstaff Awards, beating the much bigger Ascot Racecourse into second place. Musselburgh Racecourse has also won a range of awards through the RCA Showcase Awards.