Horse flu threat to Cheltenham

AN outbreak of equine flu has shut down a string of UK horse race meetings – and could wreck next month’s Cheltenham Festival.

The British Horseracing Authority called off yesterday’s meetings at Huntingdon, Doncaster and Chelmsford and Ffos Las in Wales after three horses tested positive. It will decide on Monday if racing can resume.

While highly contagious among horses, the respiratory disease cannot spread to humans. It can take months for a horse to fully recover.

The outbreak is the biggest headache for the racing industry since the foot-and-mouth crisis in 2001, which duly saw Cheltenham cancelled.

The BHA has now contacted more than 50 trainers and vets to assess the risk of the flu spreading, with British-trained runners barred from Ireland. The three newest cases were found in horses which had already been vaccinated against the disease.

The three infected horses, from the yard of Cheshire trainer Donald McCain, raced at Ayr in Scotland and Ludlow in Shropshire on Wednesday, potentially exposing other horses from Britain and in Ireland.

Horse Racing Ireland has said that it has contacted the trainers who had horses at those grounds yesterday and as a result had taken the decision not to cancel racing in Ireland.

Irish horses can still travel to Britain, while all horses in Britain are banned from travelling to the Republic.

The ban does not apply to horses coming from Northern Ireland.