Industry reaction: UK racing to return on Wednesday

Horseracing will resume in the UK on Wednesday after the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced a “risk-managed return” for the sport after a recent outbreak of equine flu.

The sport had been out of action for six days following the epidemic, but BHA CEO Nick Rust confirmed this morning that Plumpton and Musselburgh would resume jump races on Wednesday, while flat racing at Kempton and Southwell will also go ahead.

Rust said: “We were concerned about the threat of this and the impact and disruption it would have on racing in the longer term if we didn’t understand it fully.

“We have done several thousand tests since then, including swabs from 140-odd stables from across the country.

“We are pleased it is contained to just two yards and that, under certain controls, we can return to racing,” he added.

The British Horseracing Authority has tonight announced a risk-managed return to racing will take place from Wednesday this week. Full statement to follow.

— British Horseracing Authority (@BHAHorseracing) February 11, 2019

Operators are obviously relieved about the return, although field sizes might suffer in the lead-up to Cheltenham Festival as the BHA will require evidence of all vaccines within the last six months.

Here is how the rest of the industry reacted to the BHA’s announcement:

William Hill’s media exec Rupert Adams

We are very happy for racing to be back. We have a big race this weekend in the Grand National trial.

Racing was off for a short period of time so didn’t make a big material difference. For the midweek punters it hasn’t made much difference but it was a big Saturday last Saturday and turnover was down significantly, but the margin was greater than usual because that is what tends to happen with international racing.

But we are back to normal this weekend, looking forward to it and expecting turnover to be up as people will be excited about the return.

Horseracing Bettors Forum chair Matt Bisogno

HBF supports the action taken by BHA since its announcement of the decision to halt British racing in order to better understand the spread of equine influenza.

It is disappointing that some notable intended runners in the rescheduled trials will be ineligible, but again we support the robust position taken by the regulator, especially in light of their notice to trainers at the end of last month advising booster jabs for all horses in training.

The timing of this outbreak, and its implications for Cheltenham Festival prep runs, is obviously very unfortunate; but the bigger picture of the health of the breed must come first.

Kindred’s racing strategy analyst Ali Gill

It is great news of course that UK racing is back and, most importantly, that we seem to have avoided a major spreading of the equine flu.

We were helped out by some decent racing over in Ireland and our international offering was really being embraced by our players so we managed to keep turnover levels up and our players active, but there is no substitute for the real thing – we are delighted to be (almost) back to business as usual.

The major relief of course to the industry as a whole is that Cheltenham hasn’t been affected, and the news that a number of major races which were lost to the cancellations will be re-scheduled means the impact of this has been kept to an absolute minimum.

Betfred’s head of media Mark Pearson

We are obviously delighted that UK racing is back especially with Cheltenham Festival just around the corner.

Alizeti’s director of communications and corporate affairs Susannah Gill

In what’s be a really tough week for racing it’s reassuring to see the united approach taken by the sport and the strong leadership shown by the BHA in order to safeguard health and well-being of our horses, which is so fundamental to the success of British Racing both home and abroad.

Like everyone else we are really looking forward to racing resuming tomorrow.