News
Wednesday May 13 2026
Everything you need to know about Equine Flu
The cancellation of Sunday's fixture due to a case of equine flu at an adjacent livery yard to the racecourse is another illustration of the complications of running outdoor events nowadays, not least those with animals. That the livery yard case included no thoroughbred racehorse is sadly irrelevant. We all have a role in ensuring adequate bio-security on our premises, and viral outbreaks have occurred in human and animal populations all too regularly in the past 25 years to re-enforce the point.
Foot & Mouth in 2001 demolished the Spring racing programme, including the highest profile of casualties in the Cheltenham Festival. Even contemporary generations will recall the impact of Covid 19 on humankind less than 6 years ago, and avian flu rears its head all too frequently affecting domestic birdfowl like chickens.
So here's your ready reckoner to enable you to talk knowledgeably about a key ongoing threat to our sport:
What to look for
Equine flu isn't so very different from the human version - a highly contagious, albeit rarely fatal disease manifesting itself in nasal discharge, a higher than average temperature, swollen glands, fatigue and general listlessness.
Protection for thoroughbreds
All thoroughbreds in training are obliged under the Rules of Racing to be vaccinated against flu, with annual boosters adminstered by trainers' vets, recorded in their passports, which accompany them on any racecourse visit.
Bio-security regulations for racecourses are pretty demanding. Bedding cannot be used by more than one horse, and stables are cleaned rigourously between fixtures. So before your fancy has even turned up to run his heart out, his stable is spotless.
Largely the same levels of cleanliness apply at licensed training yards, albeit that some of these are on shared premises with other farm animals. But through vaccination, resilience in the racehorse population is pretty robust.
BHA's response
The sport's governing body is pretty hot on compliance, and led by a former vet, turned trainer, and now regulator, James Given.
Their decision-making has been swift, science-based and above all responsible. After all, the movement of animals across the country offers the scope to spread the disease just as fast as Covid did through airline travel, and to spread internationally. Vets at Badminton Horse Trials this past weekend will have been equally robust in their approach.
Given explained last week, "Equine flu is highly contagious and can spread rapidly among horses, including through the air and over a widespread distance, which is why we must take appropriate steps to minimise any risk of onward transmission."
Given was no slouch as a trainer, with over 570 British winners to his name, notably an Ebor in 2002 and the Chester Cup the following year.
Risk to other fixtures
There's no suggestion that the cancellation at Plumpton is the start of something much wider in Sussex. This looks presently like an isolated case in the county, although the last time equine flu cases cropped up across the country, the sport ceased for 6 days during a precautionary period of testing back in 2019. The rest of the fixture list is proceeding as normal, with trainers and vets proscribing vigilance to contain any further cases.
BHA is itself led by case surveillance and reporting to the Equine Infectous Disease Surveillance (EIDS) branch at Cambridge Veterinary School. EIDS has already reported 14 individual cases in 11 separate counties since the start of last month, so the trend is currently rising, not falling, despite the onset of Spring.
And whilst we're of course disappointed not to have held our season finale, we are wholly supportive of the course of action taken by BHA. We're all in this together.
