Hopes rise in horse bug crisis

THE racing industry was last night more hopeful that the sport could resume soon after no further cases of equine flu were reported.

It was feared that more positive tests would emerge at a second training yard, that of Rebecca Menzies in North Yorkshire.

But the swabs came back negative leaving just the six cases at Donald McCain’s stable.

Tests on 720 horses have come back so far from 2,100 swabs already taken.

Hundreds more tests are due to take place today at 174 stables that have been placed in lockdown across Britain.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced the cancellation of three meetings on Thursday due to the flu outbreak and then imposed a six-day shutdown of the sport until Wednesday at the earliest.

Racing’s rulers will decide tomorrow if a Wednesday resumption is possible.

The BHA said: “The Animal Health Trust (AHT) has informed the BHA that it has received approximately 2,100 nasal swabs and tested and reported on 720.

“So far, other than the six at the yard of Donald McCain already identified, there have been no further positive samples returned.

“This includes the swabs taken from horses at the yard of Rebecca Menzies. One horse, which tested negative, had previously been identified as suspicious and high risk after testing at a different laboratory.

“All these horses will remain under close surveillance, analysis of tests from the yard is ongoing and testing of the suspicious horses will be repeated.”

But the BHA’s director of equine health and welfare David Sykes added: “I would advise against anyone drawing any conclusions or making any predictions based on this set of results.

“Our focus remains on containing the virus through the strict adherence to biosecurity measures we are seeing across the industry.”