However, a backlash is emerging to the (some would say) over the top knee-jerk response of the BHB to equine flu ('not Ebola!' as one leading Equine Vetinary practise tweeted today)

it's over guys. time to move on to the 2020 renewal and hope we boost the vaccines by then

on a more serious note, I was watching a documentary the other night explaining how antibiotics aren't always working anymore because we've overused them... they are also used to treat animals as well. although this is separate from this, maybe it's in a way part of the same problem?

However, a backlash is emerging to the (some would say) over the top knee-jerk response of the BHB to equine flu ('not Ebola!' as one leading Equine Vetinary practise tweeted today)

think they are terrified by the implications of the festival being cancelled. that's become such a big thing now that it's bigger than the game itself, it seems.

What a bunch doom mongers. I doubt there are any experts on here and the white flag is already out.

6 confirmed cases in one yard. You could be excused for thinking it was 6,000 if you read this thread.

Fair point Duffy - they had to be seen to be doing something but what a PR disaster it will be if they do cancel Cheltenham.

Like differentdrum says (yeah,feel the love, brothers I'm in a good mood tonight) none of us have a scooby about any of this, but FWIW I can't see how the flu can shut down racing's biggest festival of the year. It might cut the fields down (and surely it's down to the owners & trainers after blood tests and their usual pre-race checks to decide if their horse should run or not), it might render the form book useless and it might mean some strange performances / winners over the 4 days, but I genuinely can't see the BHB shutting down the Festival

It is not foot and mouth again and, it is not Ebola.

The BHA have already blinked and started off down the wrong road by shutting racing down, they may find that hard to do a turnabout if there is anything less than a 100% all clear and this raises the problem of what the impact of further delays will have going forward.

It may all be sorted by the time the festival comes round but if a stack of runners have missed their preps beforehand and are therefore not ready then the festival itself becomes potentially farcical.

We can't afford to miss any more weekends.

Well that's the BBC for you.

Not a peep from the quoting someone like Nigel Twiston-Davies who is calling this a 'massive over reaction' pointing out, quite correctly, that all stables usually have a couple of horses under the weather that they check with blood tests and tracheal washes and if they come back negative, they don't run them.

This is not strangles or equine herpes that can kill horses.

"They get sick, but not that sick – just a snotty nose and temperature."

Newmarket Vet Peter Ramzan also states:

"We can expect some poor-performing yards and more respiratory disease than usual, but as with previous episodes it will pass, vaccines will get updated and we’ll then have another extended period of relative health in the population.

"I can understand a degree of nervousness on the part of the regulator, who have to be seen to be doing the right thing, and it's understandable it wishes to find out more, but this can be achieved through surveillance swabbing without mandating a shutdown of racing or of individual yards.

"Trainers by and large use their common sense and nobody chooses to send sick horses to the races."

What of the 2003 outbreak then that we heard nothing of and racing continued without it all falling down, it's the current climate of fear of the animal rights brigade driving this...nothing more.

yup

Ive got my b0llox on n air fare, a hotel for three nights and a hired car morelike

Joined: 22 Sep 06
| Topic/replies: 40,490 | Blogger: irishone's blog
Its not an over reaction lads..... If any of you own horses you will know....they are chucking a bucket of water on a burning bale of hay. It takes horses 4 to 6. weeks to get over it..... The more tests positive at different yards the worse it gets. If you have one horse in a field of forty with it they will all have it in no time. They are doing the best they can, they have to, basic p r crisis management. They probably have a p r company telling them what to say. Not looking good
would you ever get a grip,if 1 has it they will all get it ahh grow up ffs

hey have to, basic p r crisis management. They probably have a p r company telling them what to say. Not looking good

If they have then they're being badly advised in strictly PR terms, because, whilst on Thursday afternoon, the BHB might have given the impression of taking charge and being in control, they have left themselves nowhere to go now.

So say that a few (defne that as you like) stables have horses that come back with positive signs of flu. This would be expected anyway and trainers would put them on the asy list, definitely not run them and test them to ensure they are fit to run again.

Now, this will be used as evidence for a longer shutdown of racing - even though there is absolutly no restrictions on movements of the rest of the horse population. But hey, it gives a great impression that the BHB are in control, even though what they're suggesting is as much use as t1ts on a fish.

I repeat. This is not foot and mouth Mk2.

"The BHA has announced that "there have been no further positive samples returned" from 720 swabs tested to date for equine flu by the Animal Health Trust of the 2,100 received". (Sporting Life website, live as of now)

Your move BHB, having, effectively, marched us all to the top of the hill.....

Interesting with luck on sunday. Mild clinical signs, inconsistent swabs, ireland still racing after case found here, different strain behaving differently, all the hallmarks of a mess

10 reported in total now .... Tip of the iceberg ...1.01 nap

The relatively few number of cases presents an even greater challenge to the BHB.

I'd have been amazed if the authorities hadn't found further cases in the rachorse population, but what is the threshold level for a further cancellation of racing? Four? Forty? Four Hundred?

Meanwhile DEFRA have not initiated any mandatory preventitive measures in the general horse population, so whilst racing continues to be in the vanguard of being seen to be doing something and feeling very important about itself, practically (fully prepared to admit my technical limitations here) it's achieving nothing.

Like I said, they've matched everyone up to the top of the hill and now there's nowhere left for them to go - sure, they got a short-term PR plus last Wednesday. Now what?

Meanwhile jockeys, valets, horse-box hiring companies....the whole racing supply chain away from the high-profile operators such as the courses themselves, bookmakers owners & trainers....continue to suffer.