The British horse racing industry breathed a sigh of relief on Monday night after its governing body, the British Horseracing Association (BHA), announced that racing could recommence from Wednesday, following six barren days after an outbreak of Equine Influenza (EI).

The outbreak was first detected at Donald McCain’s Cheshire yard, after the trainer sent swabs of three sick horses to the Animal Health Trust at Newmarket.

They all tested positive for EI and so the process began. Last week McCain had run horses at Wolverhampton on Monday and at Ayr and Ludlow on Wednesday, so it was viewed that horses that ran at all these tracks were under risk. The confirmation of EI in McCain’s yard led to the cancellation of all British fixtures from last Thursday until yesterday.

The disease

The disease, which contains symptoms such as high fever, coughing and nasal discharge, is not usually fatal but can affect the performance of horses for days or sometimes weeks. It is also highly contagious.

Thousands of swabs were taken and sent for testing and it was subsequently found that three more horses under McCain’s care were infected while four other cases were found at Simon Crisford’s Newmarket yard on Sunday.

Crisford’s yard had already been in lockdown but it was found that the four horses infected were independent of the original outbreak.

However, at BHA headquarters on Monday night, a industry veterinary committee of 10 people, unanimously voted that racing could continue from Wednesday, albeit in a “controlled, risk-managed manner.”