Northern Ireland's two racecourses Down Royal and Downpatrick yesterday asked to meet the Minister for Agriculture Joe Walsh to try to end the stalemate which is preventing racing in Northern Ireland.

Racing resumed in the Republic on Easter Monday but Northern Ireland has lost all its meetings in May and hasn't raced since January.

Down Royal chairman Jim Nicholson said: "Both racecourses are of the view that we should try to open a timetable for resumption. That is why we want to meet Mr Walsh.

"We are not ignoring our own Department of Agriculture for we are constantly in touch with them. This meeting with the Southern Minister would be an adjunct to our meetings in the North.

"The fact has to be faced that we have failed to get the message across to our own department in Northern Ireland that horses do not carry foot and mouth.

"In addition we would hope that the minister in the South would see his way to allowing Northern horses to travel over the Border. At the present time they are not allowed to move anywhere."

Regarding the future of Down Royal Nicholson said: "We have taken no drastic steps but we are on a three-day week and are pushing for our Ulster Derby meeting to be staged in June.

"But we urgently need to know from all parties involved when we can start meeting."

Meanwhile, in Britain racing took another step towards a return to normality yesterday when the British Horseracing Board announced that eight courses, which currently fall within foot-and-mouth exclusion zones, have been given the all-clear in principle to resume racing from Thursday week.

The tracks concerned, with the date of their next programmed fixture, are Wolverhampton (May 3rd), Sedgefield (May 4th), Hexham and Thirsk (May 5th), Newcastle (May 7th), Worcester (May 12th), Stratford (May 18th) and Cheltenham (October 30th).

Carlisle, Cartmel, Catterick, Chepstow and Uttoxeter are within three kilometres of foot-and-mouth infected premises so cannot race.

Cheltenham had been hoping to stage an all-hunter chase card on May 2nd, which was to include the Christie's Foxhunter Chase from the cancelled festival but this has now been ruled out.

Edward Gillespie, Cheltenham's managing director, was saddened by the news that another prime fixture had been lost to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

He said: "It's frustrating and very disappointing for our customers. We would have had a lot of people and a lot of runners. That meeting is a big event down here."