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CANBERRA - It is too early to say whether the spring racing carnival will be postponed because of an outbreak of equine influenza (EI), Australian Racing Board chief executive Andrew Harding says.
All racing across the country was halted over the weekend after the discovery of the flu in recreational horses stabled at Sydney's Centennial Park, near Randwick Racecourse where almost 700 racehorses are trained.
The first case of EI in Australia was detected in a stallion at the Eastern Creek quarantine station, in Sydney's west, on Thursday. Five horses there are suspected to have EI.
The Eastern Creek outbreak prompted the 30-day quarantining of all 52 horses at the facility, along with another 27 horses at Spotswood in Victoria, which had been in contact with them.
Harding said that at this stage, he was not even entertaining the prospect the spring racing carnival may have to be postponed.
"It's absolutely premature to be talking about any damage being done to the spring carnival. Containment has to be given a real chance and there's a real chance it will succeed."
He said the Australian Racing Board would have an emergency meeting today to discuss its plans. "We do have a plan for this outbreak. It's always been our worst nightmare. It's the worst disease that could enter our country, so planning has been in place for a number of years."
- AAP
