EQUINE FLU.

​Up to this moment I am of the opinion that the powers-that-be should be congratulated for their speedy and efficient handling of the outbreak of equine flu presently besieging our sport. In the circumstances they could have done little else but draw a stop to proceedings so that it could be established how menacing was the danger.
Given that until this point only ten confirmed cases of equine flu have come to light, six at Donald McCain’s stables in Cheshire and four at Simon Crisford in Newmarket, though I would be surprised if the running score ends at ten, I think it represents no great risk to resume racing this week. I suspect the percentage of horses presently afflicted with equine flu is no bigger than at any other time of the year. Ten out of two-thousand, even if that number doubles to twenty, especially if only two or three stables are affected, is a small enough number to resume racing as long as all the stringent bio-security measures remain adhered to.
Although monetary aspects of the sport should never compromise equine welfare, when the decision to race or not to race is a matter of a coin flip, perhaps the powers-that-be need to be as brave now as they were last Thursday when they suspended racing for six days. Bookmakers need to fill their television screens and their tills and trainers have had to dig into their pockets to buy all the bio-security products needed to conform to directives from the powers-that-be. And jockeys have to race to earn. Not all of them can afford to swan off to the Alps for a bout of ski-ing and the sort of after-exertions relief that Mick Fitzgerald so unwisely wrote about in his autobiography. And there are holes in the I.T.V. schedule on a Saturday that an ordinary day at Naas, as wonderful as it was to experience Irish racing, just cannot satisfactorily fill.
Although the loss of the Betfair Hurdle is to be regretted, especially by connections who had dreamt for weeks of taking home the trophy, the Denman Chase must be rescheduled as it is the final proper trial or warm-up race for the Gold Cup. If the full Newbury card is impossible to rearrange, which I suspect it will be because of Ascot this Saturday and a pretty hectic day’s racing, anywhere will do, within reason. Perhaps Ascot could stage the race, as the top jockeys will more likely be there. Or Wincanton. But not Haydock, not on the heavy ground they will likely have to endure. But the Denman must be run somewhere. It is a shame it will not be at Newbury as they were dedicating a set of gates to him. Not many horses have wrought-iron gates named in their memory. They had to be wrought-iron as the great horse was as tough as wrought-iron.
Cheltenham, too, must be taken into consideration. Equine Flu is easily spread amongst the horse population and that is something that must be lost in the debate, but it cannot kill a healthy adult horse. It is not as virulent as strangles or equine herpes. As Donald McCain described in the Racing Post today, Raise A Spark had a temperature in the morning, was normal in the afternoon and back to running around his stables as is his habit. At any given time, there will be a horse with equine flu in any stable up and down the country. And this strain of flu is not the strain that is ravaging stables throughout Europe. Unless there is a sudden spike in the numbers confirmed with the illness, I cannot see any reason to continue with the stoppage, though, sadly, it would be wise if Donald McCain and Simon Crisford’s stables were kept in lockdown until all their horses scope clean.
Though yet again I must reiterate my admiration for the way the powers-that-be and the horse-racing community has responded to this, hopefully, short-lived yet serious crisis.