Shares in Britain's bookmakers fell today after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease threatened the Cheltenham Festival, one of the racing calendar's biggest events.
The highly contagious disease, which affects pigs and cattle, has been found at five places including a farm in southwest England, near Cheltenham, this week. The disease carries little risk to horses and humans but both can help spread the potentially devastating virus.
Shares in the Ladbrokes owner, leisure group Hilton, fell 2 percent on concerns over the three-day Cheltenham meeting, which is due to start on March 13th.
Shares in Stanley Leisure slumped 4.6 percent and Arena Leisure lost 7.9 percent.
Dealers said there were real concerns that the meeting, which yields £50 million sterling a day in betting turnover, could be called off.
Investigations on suspected outbreaks of the disease are also being done in Ireland - the source of more than 100 horses who attend the meeting.
It is the first foot-and-mouth outbreak in Britain for 20 years and the worst outbreak in 1967 led to a ban on all racing in an effort to contain the disease.