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RP stating that there are three confirmed cases all from vaccinated horses in an active racing yard.
From the Sporting Life website a statement from BHA
“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 2019. This is following the BHA being informed this evening by the Animal Health Trust of three confirmed Equine Influenza positives from vaccinated horses in an active racing yard.
“Horses from the infected yard have raced today at Ayr and Ludlow, potentially exposing a significant number of horses from yards across the country and in Ireland. The fact that the cases have been identified in vaccinated horses presents a cause for significant concern over welfare and the potential spread of the disease and the action to cancel racing has been viewed as necessary in order to restrict, as far as possible, the risk of further spread of the disease.
“The BHA has worked quickly to identify which yards could have potentially been exposed today and identify the further actions required. The BHA is presently communicating with yards potentially exposed to ensure appropriate quarantine and biosecurity measures are put in place and horse movements restricted to avoid possible further spread of the disease.
“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. The BHA is working closely with the Animal Health Trust and will issue a further update tomorrow. We recommend that any trainer who has concerns about the health status of any of their horses should contact their veterinarian.”
You’re probably right, Bobby, but don’t want to second guess how long.
The best things in life are free.
But you can give them to the birds and bees.Mccain yard apparently. Horses from his yard sent out to numerous racecourses today mixing with runners from Henderson, Nicholls and Gordon Elliot’s yard amongst others. Fingers crossed it can be contained quickly.
Wow that is very ominous with the statement including Ireland and as a precaution you would imagine that the BHA will not be able to sanction any racing for the forseeable future whilst investigations are taking place.
Being that vaccinated horses have tested positive could it mean a fundamental problem with the medication not actually working (which doesn’t bear thinking about if true) but in any case we could be looking at racing being shut down for a long time – see the Australian outbreak in 2007 where no metropolitan race meetings were held in NSW and Queensland for 3 months.
Everything is on the table currently LD73, but horses in Australia were unvaccinated and as such spread was unhindered. The key to this outbreak will be the circumstances behind why vaccinated horses are infected.
Let’s hope for localized circumstances on that score and no further cases to come forward from other yards.
Almost certainly no racing to take place this weekend I’d have thought at the very least.
Very concerned about Cheltenham right now.
What a nightmare this NH season has been, the knock on effect is likely to seriously hinder the festival even if it were given the green light, trainers likely wont take any chances atall understandably
This is from Racing Post Site.
Most of which is the same as Sporting Life, but shows what happened in Australia.
Equine influenza is an airborne infection and can travel over fairly large distances and even be transferred through humans, so the prospect of it spreading can be high.
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.
A similar timescale would see racing return in the middle of May.
The best things in life are free.
But you can give them to the birds and bees.Don’t have a link to it but supposedly two 2YO’s in Suffolk are suspected cases also.
There must be another yard if it is McCain as he only had two runners and the BHA cite three positive cases
Surprised Thurles hasn’t been cancelled, wouldn’t the irish racing be cancelled as a precaution as a lot of horses obviously travel between the two countries?
Think the BHA site has crashed but this is latest statement
Racing was shut down today as a precautionary measure to restrict the movement of thoroughbred race horses and prevent any further spread of the virus. This is a standard contingency in the event of an infectious disease affecting our horses. It was essential that racing be stood down today and controls on movements of horses be put in place in order to attempt to control the spread of the disease, and the decision was taken swiftly last night that this course of action should be taken, once the extent of the issue was known. The BHA consulted with its veterinary committee before making this decision.
We will endeavour to issue regular information but we are still in the early stages of assessing the scale and severity of the outbreak. We are working quickly to identify the extent of the infection and will have more information when further test results are returned today. The results from those tests will not be known until this evening. Following these results being known a call will be convened to discuss the implications and a decision will then be made as to the impact on racing in the coming days.
We are aware that people want to know the situation as regards racing tomorrow and this weekend and we will seek to provide more clarity as soon as we are able. It is likely that any definitive decisions on whether racing can take place tomorrow will be taken later this evening.
We are contacting trainers of all yards which might conceivably have had contact with horses from the affected yard in order to advise them on biosecurity measures and to ask them not to move horses. We are also issuing guidance to the wider population of trainers. We are working closely with the National Trainers Federation to share this information and ensure that trainers are kept as informed as possible. Trainers are being sent a contact number should they have further questions, and they are advised to contact their vets with any further concerns.
Anyone visiting a racing yard should exercise appropriate caution and check with a trainer before visiting, and trainers are advised to limit where possible the movement of people to and from their yard. There is a Code of Practice for dealing with infectious diseases on the website of the National Trainers Federation.
All British race horses are vaccinated against equine influenza. However this strain has affected vaccinated horses. The disease may be serious in unvaccinated horses, although symptoms in vaccinated horses are usually mild and transient. Symptoms may include a raised temperature, a cough and nasal discharge. It is highly contagious. Humans are not at risk from the virus though can be transmitters of the virus.
The situation here is not the same as the incident in Australia in 2007. Australian thoroughbreds are not vaccinated against influenza, while British thoroughbreds are, as the virus is endemic in the UK. Therefore an important barrier is in place to prevent the same situation occurring here. However, as we have seen in Europe, the virus has affected vaccinated horses in this case. The vaccine should however help reduce to a certain extent the effect and spread of the disease in thoroughbreds.
This is a wider horse health issue which is not confined to horseracing. Unlike thoroughbreds, the wider horse population in Britain is not vaccinated against equine flu. Whilst the BHA is not specifically responsible for non-race-horses, the general advice to owners would be to contact your vet if you have concerns.
I think it’s a bit risky for Thurles to go ahead, HRI should cancel and give themselves a few days to think about the situation. Would the meeting be going ahead if there were British trained runners declared!
My first take is we’ll be lucky to get away with a two week shutdown. The biggest concern is that equines seem to have become immune from the vaccination.
It’s a disaster for the industry and us consumers. The outbreaks in Suffolk may well be in the Flat hub of Newmarket. Just when there is some Soft ground Jumps trainers cannot run their horses!
It may dry up again before they can. If racing can resume in a fortnight or so there will be many extra meetings to cater for the mass of horses desperate for a run but a lot of big races will be lost in the meantime and probably not replaced.
In a worse case scenario Cheltenham may have to be pushed back and, especially bearing in mind other spring festival meetings and ground, will not be the same. If it’s cancelled altogether the other festivals will benefit.
If Cheltenham goes ahead as planned a lot of horses will have missed their intended prep but I reckon trainers can overcome this with minimal effect. There may be more shocks than usual, however, because of less form in the book (especially for novices and especially if it comes up Soft as there’s been so little racing on it this season). More than likely all the Irish runners will come and if racing in Ireland is not shut down they may have an advantage – not that they need it!
The biggest issue may be that of horses denied the run they need to qualify for this or that. If there’s a shutdown until close to Cheltenham will the BHA have to give special dispensation to many hunter chasers, juveniles and potential runners in the Pertemps, etc?
Elliot’s horses are in a quarantine yard…..Horse’s like Bachelor that ran on Tuesday must need watching too if they’ve travelled back to Ireland.
Twitter: Jackh1092
Hindsight is 20/20 so make the most of it!The best thing to do is to close racing down for about 3 weeks. Infected horses can be identified at home and isolated from the rest. Plus there will be no contact to horses from other yards. There still would be plenty of time for a proper preparation regarding the Festival entries.
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