Racing: Disease stops US imports

AN OUTBREAK of an undiagnosed equine disease in New England is threatening to halt all transport of racehorses between Britain and America, with potentially dire consequences for stables expecting to take delivery of yearlings bought in Kentucky this week, writes Paul Hayward.

The illness, which has struck up to 200 horses at race-tracks in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, has caused Kentucky, New York and Florida, among others, to restrict incoming movements from the north-eastern states. 'Until the situation has been clarified, horses should not be sent to race in nor imported from the US,' the Jockey Club recommended yesterday.