A shutdown in English racing because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak would cost the industry, including the bookmakers, well over £100 million and it is hardly surprising that the authorities have been loathe to take any action.

Public opinion may ultimately force a change of mind and a closure although, according to experts, veterinary and scientific evidence does not suggest this is necessary.

The jockey Andrew Thornton summed up the views of many professionals. "People in the sport want to keep going because it is their livelihood," he said. "But we have to be seen to be doing the right thing and the right thing might be to call a halt."

Jump jockeys are paid £93.15 for every ride and while the Tony McCoys of this world, who can earn £500 a day are cushioned from a period of inactivity, it is a very different story for those riders at the bottom.

But while bread-and-butter racing keeps the industry ticking over it is the possible loss of the Cheltenham Festival and the Aintree Grand National meeting which would cause most concern.

Owners would lose over £3 million prize-money if both meetings were abandoned, while the bookmakers' turnover for these six days of racing is well over £100 million. The Levy, which oils racing's financial wheels, would suffer accordingly and the coffers are already well down as a result of 89 abandonments due to bad winter.

Every sector of the industry has been affected by this and the racecourses have lost revenue through the gate. Cheltenham is one of the wealthiest, but losing the Festival would mean a massive financial loss.

A postponement of Cheltenham to mid-April when a two-day meeting is already scheduled might be a possible solution, but the farther back the fixture is pushed the greater the likelihood of firm jumping ground which would be totally unsuitable for many horses.

Many outside the game will probably be dismayed by racing not being seen to do the right thing, in Thornton's words, but it has become a tradition of the Jockey Club and now apparently of the British Horseracing Board to react slowly to situations.

The administration has never been a world in which quick decisions are made, and in any case the authorities genuinely believe that at the moment they are doing the right thing.

But how many more outbreaks of the disease will it take to bring about a change of mind? That may be the obvious question, but the answer is not obvious except in the event of so many cases occurring throughout England that the proliferation of exclusion zones will mean that movement becomes almost impossible.

While some trainers have been strong critics of the seeming passivity of the authorities, their view is by no means a majority one.

Mark Johnston, a qualified vet as well as being the top trainer in Middleham, is quite happy with the BHB's present stance. "As long as the ministry supports what we are doing that's fine," he said.

As I see it, if a box leaves my yard and travels to a race meeting there is no more risk of spreading the disease than any other vehicle moving about the country."

Peter Walwyn, chairman of the Lambourn Trainers Federation, is another who supports the continuation.

"Things are obviously getting worse and I don't want to give the impression that we are irresponsible and are carrying on regardless, but provided cattle trucks are not used to transport horses there is minimal risk.

"One of the roots of the problem is that over the years the European Union has forced the closure of a lot of abattoirs and issued a string of instructions that our Government has obeyed. It can now be seen that this has not been in our best interests and, if it spreads across the Channel, not in Europe's either."