Racing stable in quarantine after equine flu found here

TWO Irish racing stables have been locked down over equine influenza fears in recent weeks.

One of the stables has returned to sending runners to the track, tests from its horses having shown that the disease is no longer present.

The other remains in quarantine until such time as swabs from its horses also test clear.

English media reports yesterday stated the trainers involved have not been named by authorities in a bid to encourage other trainers to come forward if they fear they may have EI cases.

Officials here point to what they say is a key difference: that there has not been a case in Ireland of a horse testing positive shortly after mixing with other runners at a racecourse as has happened in Britain.

Chief veterinary officer at the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board Lynn Hillyer praised British officials for acting so promptly last Wednesday to notify their Irish counterparts that horses at Donald McCain’s Cheshire stable had tested positive.

That enabled them to contact Irish trainers who had runners at Ayr that day where Mr McCain also had runners so those Irish horses were stopped from returning to their own stables and kept in isolation.

‘We were able to act quickly in response to that information,’ said Ms Hillyer. ‘The BHA [British Horseracing Authority] didn’t have that luxury. The horses had gone home. So it really is apples and pears.’

Racing continued over the weekend at Naas on Saturday and at Punchestown on Sunday, with increased biosecurity measures and a message to trainers that they should be giving flu vaccination boosters.