Horseracing will resume in the UK after an outbreak of equine flu forced a six-day shutdown.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced last night that a risk-managed return to racing will take place from Wednesday this week.

Two scheduled Jump fixtures will go ahead at Musselburgh and Plumpton, alongside the All Weather fixtures at Southwell and Kempton.  

Brant Dunshea, the BHA’s Chief Regulatory Officer, said: "Our approach since hearing about the first positive results last Wednesday has been based on accumulating as much information as we could as quickly as possible, so we could properly understand the risks of this virulent strain of flu spreading to more horses.

"That would be harmful to them and damaging to any trainers’ yards that became infected.

Trainers planning to compete on Wednesday were advised by the BHA to declare at 10am on Tuesday.

The BHA will then review the declarations to ensure none are entered which do not meet risk criteria.