NO RACING TOMORROW

Just seen this..not April 1st presumably

Racing on Thursday 7 February cancelled due to equine influenza cases
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA), with unanimous support of the BHA’s industry veterinary committee, has taken the decision to cancel racing at all British racecourses on Thursday 7 February

still got thurles

Will the Gordon Elliot runners be running, as he had runners at Ayr today?

yes,been vaccinated.

As far as I can see only DM had runners at both meetings.

But it's not his fault as the report states the horses had been vaccinated.

PC gone mad

only says a day, i guess the brain trust at the BHA will decide tomorrow

Has this happened before and does anyone have an idea of how long this may last?

never heard of it last 40 years

did we not have a break during the foot and mouth out break ?

DM for WhatsApp call

https://www.racingpost.com/news/bha-issues-warning-to-trainers-over-equine-influenza-outbreak/362320

Interesting article back on January 19 looks like it may have been around for a while and trainers were warned.

* and France too

the dealer 07 Feb 19 00:05 
never heard of it last 40 years
did we not have a break during the foot and mouth out break ?

Yes, and it included Cheltenham, the year Istabraq would have been going for a fourth consecutive Champion Hurdle.

Coincidentally CXTV in Dubai have just shown the story of Istabraq culminating in his last ever run at Cheltenham. I had forgotten John McCririck's prophetic pre race comment that Paddy Power's offer of 8-1 about Istabraq not finishing the race might be the value bet.
CXTV will be at Meydan this afternoon.

Outbreaks are rare, but one such incident in Australia in 2007 brought racing to a halt nationwide on August 25 and, while the Melbourne spring carnival took place under strict bio-security measures, racing in Sydney did not resume until December 1 of that year.

British horse racing was plunged into a sudden crisis on Wednesday night as it emerged that three horses in an active yard, believed to be that of Donald McCain, have tested positive for equine influenza, despite having been vaccinated against it.

All four scheduled meetings in Britain on Thursday were summarily cancelled as the British Horseracing Authority moved hastily to try to contain the outbreak. It is not immediately clear when racing will be able to resume.

Alarmingly, the BHA confirmed that the affected stable had runners at Ayr and Ludlow on Wednesday, where they were in close proximity to dozens of other horses from many racing stables. McCain is the only trainer who had runners at both meetings, suggesting that his stable, in Cheshire, is the one referred to by the BHA. Other trainers who had runners at Ayr or Ludlow include Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Gordon Elliott, who sent runners to Ayr from his base in Ireland.

“It’s extremely worrying,” said Peter Scudamore, partner to Lucinda Russell, who had runners at Ayr. “I’ve never known anything like this in all my time in racing.”

An outbreak of the highly contagious respiratory disease caused turmoil in Australian racing in 2007, when all horse movements were banned nationwide for 72 hours, a ban that continued in some areas for longer. Sydney’s spring racing carnival was cancelled and it was months before the outbreak was contained and normal horse-related activities resumed.

Equine influenza is not usually fatal to healthy adult horses but is dangerous for young foals, mares in foal or horses who were already ill. BHA advice is that it can be transmitted by air “over reasonable distances”, or be passed from horse to horse by people who come into contact with them.

The BHA issued a statement shortly after 11pm, saying it had acted with the unanimous support of its industry veterinary committee, following confirmation of the positive tests by the Animal Health Trust.

“The fact that the cases have been identified in vaccinated horses presents a cause for significant concern over welfare,” it said.

“The full extent of potential exposure is unknown and we are working quickly to understand as much as we can to assist our decision making.”

A further statement is expected on Thursday.

The ruling body said it had been in touch with trainers who had runners at Ayr and Ludlow “to ensure appropriate quarantine and biosecurity measures are put in place and horse movements restricted to avoid possible further spread of the disease”.

Explaining the gravity of the situation, the BHA described equine flu as “the most potentially damaging of the respiratory viruses that occur in UK equines. Disease symptoms in non–immune animals include high fever, coughing and nasal discharge.

“The outbreak at the infected yard follows the identification of a number of equine influenza cases across Europe and the UK, including several in vaccinated horses. Following the recent outbreaks, guidance was sent to trainers to inform them that all horses which have not had a vaccination against equine influenza within the last six months should receive a booster vaccination, and that trainers should be extra-vigilant with biosecurity.”

via delle volte must have caught it yesterday morning.

@sixtwosix

That of course is most likely you are correct. But their initial decision has to be to call off today's racing, evaluate and assess options. I suspect during today a plan will be put together and a possible time frame stated. That being done last night would have been considered knee jerk. There is no way it was only ever going to be one day, but to have announced anything different at that stage would not have been professional either.

add to that the electric shocks in the parade ring sistwosix