Daily Star

FEELING BETTER!

HORSE FLU: HERE’S THE GOOD NEWS

- by JERRY LAWTON

No new cases On course to race this week

HORSE racing could begin across Britain this week thanks to “marvellous” work to contain an equine flu outbreak, a top trainer has claimed.

Martin Pipe hopes the nationwide ban will be lifted after tests on 1,500 animals came back negative.

HORSE racing could begin again across Britain this week thanks to “marvellous” work to contain an equine flu outbreak, according to a former champion trainer.

Martin Pipe said the ban on meetings may be over by Saturday after tests on 1,500 horses proved to be clear.

Officials are awaiting the analysis of a further 600 nasal swabs.

But if they too prove negative, Mr Pipe said he hoped racing could resume.

It has been shutdown since Thursday after three horses from the yard of Cheshire-based trainer Donald McCain were found to have the virus.

The British Horseracin­g Authority is set to announce when the sport can re-start again today.

Mr Pipe, 73, who was champion trainer 15 times before his 2016 retirement, said: “It depends how they progress with all the tests.

Hope

“I’m hoping it might be on before the end of the week, but that’s more hope than anything. It’s a great worry that it’s going on for so long. Overreacti­on is better than no action. It’s better to err on the side of caution.

“Flu can spread very quickly indeed and something had to be done.

“They’re certainly doing a very good job testing horses. It’s all good news so far so we just have to see what the rest of the tests do in the next two days.”

The crisis is the biggest racing has faced since a foot-and-mouth outbreak led to the cancellati­on of the 2001 Cheltenham Festival. The BHA said it was “planning for a variety of scenarios under which racing may recommence” adding it was “planning as normal for the Cheltenham Festival” on March 12 to 15.

The organisati­on’s director of equine health and welfare David Sykes said yesterday: “I can say we haven’t had any other positive tests except for those in the Don McCain stable.

“I would say we are looking at around 1,500 samples that have been carried out and all are negative so far.

“We’re still in lockdown until we can gather some more informatio­n.

“While it’s nice to have around 1,500 samples that are negative it would be nice to have more of them so we get a better idea of what is out there in the general population.

“But we need to be confident we don’t undo all the good work by saying: ‘Let’s go racing’ if we’re not fully confident we’ve got everything covered.”

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 ??  ?? TESTS: McCain
TESTS: McCain

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