With the severity of the outbreak unknown, the impact on the industry could be huge.
Four UK meetings have been cancelled today due to news from the BHA of an equine influenza outbreak.
However, there is still horse racing going ahead elsewhere. Meetings will be happening as planned in Ireland, France and Dubai at the following courses:
Markets are available as usual on our site for these meetings.
Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek: "News that equine influenza has cancelled four scheduled meetings across the UK will come to the great concern of bookmakers, with horse racing equating to roughly 33% of annual turnover.
"At this stage, it is difficult to know how long UK racing may be restricted and if the BHA will take the step to cancel further racing in the UK.
"Cancellations aren’t unknown within racing, usually the result of inclement weather, with the Beast From the East partly responsible for the plethora of abandonments in the early part of 2018.
"14% of meetings were cancelled in the first three months of last year. Despite bookmakers' efforts to shift betting activity elsewhere (international racing and other sports), the impact of a prolonged period of horse racing cancellations in the run-up to Cheltenham would be hugely detrimental for UK-facing operators.
"In early trading, GVC, Paddy Power Betfair and William Hill are all trading circa 2% lower than yesterday."
