By Marcus Townend for MailOnline
Published: 23:21 GMT, 11 February 2019 | Updated: 23:21 GMT, 11 February 2019
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The BHA has ended the shutdown of British racing prompted by the outbreak of Equine Influenza at the Cheshire stable of Grand National winning trainer Donald McCain.
The six-day blank period will end with four meetings on Wednesday at Kempton and Southwell on the Flat and Musselburgh and Plumpton, Southwell over the jumps.
While testing of hundreds of racehorses is still ongoing, the BHA took a pragmatic approach after a risk analysis of the situation.
The BHA has ended the shutdown of British racing prompted by outbreak of Equine Influenza
The decision was made after a late-night meeting of the BHA's veterinary advisory committee and against a backdrop of increasing pressure to get the sport back up and running after a hiatus which has cost an estimated £25million.
The decision to start racing again is expected to be followed on Tuesday by announcements over whether it is possible to reschedule Saturday's lost meeting at Newbury which would have featured a clash between Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Native River and King George VI Chase winner Clan Des Obeaux in the Denman Chase.
Ten horses have tested positive to highly contagious EI - six from the McCain stable plus four from the Newmarket yard of trainer Simon Crisford which emerged on Sunday evening.
But calls for the BHA to end the shutdown got appreciably louder on Monday as racing's body was pressed to come up with an exit strategy from the lockdown of the sport.
The six-day blank period will end with four meetings on Wednesday with testing ongoing
Trainers
