Racegoers attending the race meeting at Fairyhouse today will be asked to step through a footbath of disinfectantto minimise any possible risk of contamination from foot and mouth disease.
The footbath will have a thin sponge in the bottom soaked in disinfectant which will eliminate any possibility of transmitting the virus.
Wheels on horse boxes havealso been sterilised and the 120 declared runners today will pass through a treated bed of straw on their way to the stable yard to ensure that there is no risk of infection from the horses themselves.
Racecourse manager Dick Sheil said that these were purely precautionary measures and that they decided to take these measures on their own initiative as they are still waiting on a directive onthe matter from the Turf Club.
Fairyhouse is the first racemeeting in Ireland since the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Britain early this week.Until there is a clear directive from the Turf Club similar precautions are likely to be taken at Naas tomorrow and again at Fairyhouse next Wednesday.
Sheil stressed that any scaremongering was totally unnecessary and that these measures are very similar to precautions taken in any agricultural or food processing facility.
Over 3000 people are expected to attend today’s meeting and most who have arrived so far have had no problem with the procedure."A few showed some concern over what they were being asked to do but once it was explained to them they were fine," said Sheil.