Industry to face losses of £100m over crisis
THE horse flu crisis deepened last night after three more animals were found to be infected by the virus.
And experts warned the impact could be felt for six months.
There were growing fears for the Cheltenham Festival amid warnings the countrywide racing ban could last up to 10 weeks.
Horse racing is on hold across Britain until at least Wednesday as authorities deal with the outbreak.
Racing bosses said the impact could be felt for up to six months across the industry if the outbreak is not handled carefully.
And bookies say racing could be facing losses of £100million.
The three horses which tested positive yesterday were from Donald McCain’s Cheshire yard where the initial three were found.
One of the horses, Raise A Spark, pictured above, ran at Ayr on Wednesday but is said to have “showed no clinical symptoms” on the day.
In a statement, the British Horseracing Authority said: “In the meantime we ask that everyone involved in the sport continues to be vigilant, restrict where possible all movements of horses and people and maintains the highest standards of biosecurity.
“Of the samples that have been returned so far, three further positive results for equine influenza have been reported, all from the original affected yard.
“This means that in total six positive tests have been returned from the horses tested so far from this yard.”
A “separate suspicious case”, not yet confirmed as a positive sample, was also identified at another yard. That one had runners at fixtures in Newcastle and Wolverhampton earlier this week.
A further 54 yards that had runners at those meetings have been put on hold for testing. A total of 174 were busy testing horses yesterday.
The BHA is expected to announce on Monday whether racing can resume next week.
Leading trainer Tim Vaughan said: “It’s going to be a big blow if you have got an outbreak. It will stop the training of the horses.
“If they want to restrict the spread of it, I can only assume it’s just lockdown.
“Realistically that could be eight, 10 weeks I would have thought.”
The BHA has refused to rule out cancelling Cheltenham which is due to start on March 12.
Chief executive Nick Rust said: “We’ve got to get a hold of the situation swiftly – if we play Russian roulette with the evidence we’ve got we could have a problem for three to six months and no-one would thank us for that.”
Last night bookies slashed odds on the Gold Cup being cancelled, with a 1-in-5 chance it does not go ahead.
Phillip Trampe, from bettingexpert. com, said the sport is “facing one of its biggest crises since the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001”.
He added: “The entire industry including betting, hospitality and ticketing could be facing turnover losses of up to £100million.”
Craig McKenna, managing partner at racehorse ownership company Crowd Racing, said: “If racing isn’t back on within two weeks I think they should consider delaying Cheltenham so the horses are properly prepped.
“As many horses as possible should be able to get there in peak condition.”
He added: “Actions have been taken very quickly. The horses’ safety and health is paramount.
“This will have a massive impact on the sport but the industry will come through this.”