Next week's Cheltenham Festival has been postponed, at least until the middle of April. The British Racing Board made the announcement because livestock had been grazing on the course recently. This opens up the possibility that the Irish horses and trainers could yet go there. Irish trainers had already decided not to attend the meeting. Horseracing at Lingfield in Surrey got underway this afternoon, the first meeting since the lifting of the week-long ban on the sport imposed because of the foot and mouth outbreak. The six-card meeting went ahead despite pleas from Britain's National Farming Union to postpone the event.
Earlier, fifteen more cases of foot and mouth disease were confirmed this evening in Britain, bringing the total to 96. Farmers there had called for horse racing to be suspended for at least seven days. NFU president Ben Gill wrote to the racing authorities appealing for a suspension. Peter Savill, Chairman of the British Horseracing Board, said that while the NFU was disappointed that racing went ahead they “stressed their appreciation for the considerable efforts racing is making to ensure that everyone going racing must undertake stringent disinfection measures both on arrival and on leaving the racecourse”.
