Cheltenham counts cost of foot-and-mouth

Cheltenham is today assessing the escalating cost to its business and the sport as a whole should its rescheduled Festival meeting be lost due to further spread of foot-and-mouth disease in Gloucestershire.

While it remains a mile outside the infected area that includes a confirmed outbreak in a farm at Sandhurst - itself just nine miles from the track - the 17-19 April fixture replacing the National Hunt meeting lost last week can still go ahead. But it is privately admitted that these dates are now in serious jeopardy.

Both Cheltenham and racing's rulers at the British Horseracing Board (BHB) are keen to ensure the Festival's ten championship races go ahead in some form this season. Proposals include upgrading and effectively merging with existing races at Aintree in just over a fortnight's time and/or rescheduling certain key races - such as the Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and Stayers' Hurdle - within the scheduled programme at the same Liverpool meeting or Sandown's Whitbread Gold Cup day on 28 April.

These other two race-courses march, like Cheltenham, under the banner of Jockey Club subsidiary, Racecourse Holdings Trust (RHT).

It remains to be seen whether this powerful body's priorities run counter to those of BHB race-planners.

The most straightforward option, given the time constraints of such an imminent meeting, would be a simple cash injection to suitable races at Aintree.