UK Edition
Horse cold virus sweeps Newmarket racing stables
Dozens of racing thoroughbreds have been struck down by a mystery respiratory infection sweeping through some of the country’s top stables.
Trainers have described the outbreak of infection, which leads to horses suffering from coughs and runny eyes, as the worst they have seen in decades.
The revelations coincided with Saturday and Sunday's Newmarket Open Weekend, when 15 stables were lined up to open their doors to members of the public, leading to fears that large numbers of people moving from one to another could lead to a further spread in infections.
Stables have been advised by organisers to take a series of precautionary bio-security measures to reduce the risk.
These include roping off the front of boxes so members of the public cannot get too close to the horses; providing disinfection foot baths or mats at each entrance to the yard and placing senior staff around the stables to monitor the public around the horses.
Stables and estates have also been offered supplies of disinfectant sachets to help staff and visitors reduce the danger of carrying any infection from one animal to another.
Newmarket, home to around 3,000 race horses, has been the worst hit, although illness has also spread to across the Channel to Chantilly, the centre of racing in France.
Several trainers have reported that their horse have been “out of sorts”, leading them to carry out blood tests on their animals.
These have confirmed they were suffering from some form of respiratory infection, although the precise strain has yet to be identified.
The rash of infections forced trainers to pull several of their horses out of races this summer in order for them to have time to recuperate.
The most high profile case was that of Postponed – one of Britain’s best older males - who was unable to defend his King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July due to respiratory problems.
He went on to recover fully and win the Juddmonte International at York Racecourse, on August 17.
There have been several other cases of trainers withdrawing horses from recent races due to ill health – leading to lost investment and additional costs for stables.
Postponed’s trainer Roger Varian put out half the number of runners in July that he did in May and June, while Saeed Bin Suroor, another high profile trainer, withdrew all his horses during July, sending them out again only in late August.
Mr Bin Suroor said: "We've given the horses an easy time. Most have been coughing. You can see it all over Newmarket. I've been here 22 years and this is the worst thing like that to happen here. You have to stop and give them time to recover."
Mr Varian added: "It's like humans. You can feel all right with a lung infection until your lungs start burning, then you can forget it. If you run them when they're sick they take longer to recover."
Angus Gold, racing manager at Shadwell stud in Norfolk, who manages 350 horses for Sheikh Hamdam Al Maktoum, said: "I don't think people have realised quite what a difficult year this has been for horse-health issues and just what a tough time trainers have had. It has been the worst year in my 30 years as racing manager."
He added: “Not everyone is affected, but it is a Europe wide problem.”
Mr Gold and other in the racing industry believe that one reason for the spike in infections could be the mild winter, followed by cold, wet April.
Jenny Hall, the chief veterinary officer of the British Horseracing Authority, told The Telegraph: “They normally build up immunity during the winter. They get a bit of a cold and take a bit of time off, just like we do, then they get over it.
“But it may be relevant that this year they’ve remained reasonably healthy throughout the winter and it has eventually caught up with them. They’ve not had the opportunity to build up that immunity ahead of a more recent colder period.”
Ms Hall said that younger race horses, known as yearlings, were also likely to have spread the infection when mixing with others after being moved to trainers’ stables, just as children do when first starting school.
"It's a reminder how important hygiene is in stables and how difficult it is, as well as at the races, with horses constantly coming and going," she said.
The Newmarket Open Weekend will see hundreds of visitors take advantage of some of the country’s top trainers, including Ed Dunlop, Luca Cumani and David Simcock, opening their yards for viewing.
A spokesman for Newmarket Open Weekend said: “The option to open lies with the trainers individually, as does the enforcement of biosecurity for their yards.”
The spokesman added that Jockey Club Estates have offered complimentary Virkon disinfectant sachets to the trainers, along with “a full list of biosecurity measures to enable them to put forward all the necessary precautions” for the weekend.
Researchers at the Animal Health Trust laboratories are currently trying to identify the strain of the disease, though it is not thought to have any long term effect on the animal’s health.
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for Prince Khalid Abdullah's string of thoroughbreds, told The Racing Post: "It's been a real problem this year, no question. I think it's a Europe-wide problem. It's been bad in Chantilly and there certainly have been spells when various Newmarket trainers have struggled.
“It doesn't seem like it's one thing - there seems to be so many different strains of flu or rhino flu. I think it's a perfect storm of a number of things."