BBC Sport Online chronicles how foot-and-mouth disease hit horse racing and the Cheltenham Festival in 2001.
21 February
Official confirmation at an abattoir at Brentwood, Essex, of Britain's first case of foot-and-mouth for more than 20 years.
22 February
First point-to-point meeting is abandoned and a hunting ban imposed for one week.
23 February
Meeting at Newcastle in three days' time is called off as course falls within an exclusion zone. Nine of 11 weekend point-to-point meetings cancelled. Share prices of bookmaking firms fall.
24 February
Big meetings go ahead at Kempton and Haydock without hitch.
25 February
Irish agriculture minister Joe Walsh suggests chances of Cheltenham going ahead are "worse than 50-50". Seventh outbreak is confirmed.
26 February
Crisis meeting at Portman Square between representatives of the British Horseracing Board, Racecourse Association, National Trainers' Federation, the Animal Health Trust and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Number of confirmed cases rises to 12. Trainers including Kim Bailey, Ferdy Murphy and Wilf Storey call for racing to be halted. All point-to-points are cancelled.
Cheltenham officials express concern over chances of Festival going ahead.
 Disinfectant procedures were in place at course entrances
|
27 February
Meetings take place at Catterick, Leicester and Wolverhampton.
Racing is suspended in Britain for seven days. Irish government bans horse and greyhound racing indefinitely and calls on racegoers and trainers to stay away from Cheltenham.
Number of confirmed cases now 18. Majority of trainers support suspension decision. John McCririck accuses racing of having "self-destructed".
28 February
Bookmakers call a halt to betting on races at Cheltenham.
Tentative plans drawn up to resume racing on 7 March. Government welcomes "sensible and responsible" suspension. Extra greyhound meetings and numbers draws in British betting offices.
1 March
Suspected case of foot-and-mouth at Woolstone, five miles from Cheltenham, heightens fears for Festival.
Irish trainers announce that they will not be travelling to Cheltenham. Fears of outbreak in Lambourn training centre prove to be a false alarm.
2 March
Jockey Club and BHB issue guidelines for restart of racing in Britain. Catterick and Carlisle call off meetings scheduled for following week.
3 March
Towcester, Bangor and Wincanton all call off meetings. Jockey Club veterinary advisor Peter Webbon emphasises low risk that racing could spread disease.
But a TV viewers' poll finds two-thirds do not want racing to restart.
4 March
Cheltenham hopes rise. Lingfield keen to race on 7 March. Other courses still weighing up options. Number of confirmed cases now stands at 69.
|
Who suffered when Festival fell Hotels and guest houses: Although some did not offer refunds Cheltenham Racecourse: It was insured, but lost revenue Jockeys, trainers and owners: They missed out on Festival prize-money Pubs, clubs and taxis: The Festival is a massive social event Bookmakers: It is the biggest betting event of the year Racing papers and Channel 4: Racing Post sales shoot up during Festival week while the TV channel had to replace programmes Hospitality firms and caterers: Hundreds of part-time posts are created |
5 March
Chepstow meeting on Saturday called off. French Government announces a ban on the movement of horses with leading fancies First Gold, Baracouda, Bilboa and Jair du Cochet all likely to miss the Cheltenham Festival.
6 March
Farmers' representatives plead for racing not to resume until foot-and-mouth has been properly contained. Another suspected case emerges at Lambourn, casting fresh doubts over the Festival.
7 March
Racing resumes at Lingfield, but Festival postponed until April.
The meeting is called off after a group of sheep - later nicknamed the Cheltenham 23 - breached guidelines by grazing on the course in the build-up to the meeting.
8 March
Aintree officials confirm the Grand National is to go ahead.
31 March
Plans to reschedule Cheltenham Festival on 17-19 April under threat after new outbreak confirmed five miles from course.
1 April
The Festival is finally abandoned after the confirmed outbreak just five miles away puts the track within an exclusion zone.
3 April
Irish-trained horses, including 2000 winner Papillon, are allowed to travel to England for the Grand National, but the Irish Grand National, held at Fairyhouse near Dublin, is postponed.
8 April
The Martell Grand National goes ahead, although that decision is cricitised because of very heavy going.
18 April
It emerges the cause of the Festival abandonment may have been a false alarm.
Tests on cattle and sheep in the village of Woolstone are revealed as negative, although a subsequent outbreak on another nearby farm is likely to have led to the event being called off anyway.
 Unthinkable: Cheltenham is empty in mid-March
|
30 April
Racing's Flat season starts with little trouble.
9 May
The Irish Turf Club confirm restrictions on British horses racing in Ireland are set to be lifted.
11 May
Hopes that racing in Northern Ireland would soon resume are dashed with the postponement of the 18-19 May meeting at Downpatrick, Northern Ireland.
18 May
Return of horse racing in Northern Ireland announced by Minister of Agriculture Brid Rodgers.
26 June
Chepstow Racecourse given all-clear to resume racing after its enforced hiatus.
5 July
First meeting for six months staged at Chepstow. Plans revealed to apply for extra race days to offset recent losses.
30 September
What becomes the last recorded case of the outbreak is found in animals in a field north of Little Asby, Appleby, Cumbria.
12 October
Racing resumes at Carlisle following an eight-month enforced break.
14 January 2002
With no outbreak for three months and negative tests on sheep flocks in Northumberland, the county where disease was initially traced, Britain declares itself free of foot-and-mouth.
Thursday, 7 March, 2002, 16:27 GMT 
