BRITISH racing faces a blank week following yesterday's decision to suspend the sport in response to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease.

The meetings at Catterick, Leicester and Wolverhampton were the last until Wednesday March 7, when the racing authorities hope action can resume.

The week-long hiatus gives hope that the three-day Cheltenham Festival, due to start in a fortnight's time, could still go ahead.

However, if it the Festival does take place, it may have to proceed without the traditional Irish invasion as Irish Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh announced the suspension of all horse and greyhound meetings in Ireland to prevent the spread of the disease.

He also appealed to the Irish public not to travel to the Cheltenham Festival, stressing that people should only travel to Britain if their journey was really necessary.

The joint statement from the British Horseracing Board and Jockey Club said: ''In view of the continuing spread of foot and mouth disease, the directors of the BHB, in conjunction with the stewards of the Jockey Club, have temporarily suspended racing with effect from tomorrow.

''Racing will resume on Wednesday March 7.

''This decision, which has been taken to enable further precautionary measures to be implemented, has the full support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.''

The BHB's racing director Paul Greeves said: ''We believe that, by having a short break, racing is giving itself the best chance of continuing in the long run and also of staging the Cheltenham Festival next month as scheduled.

''Racing will continue to act in a totally responsible manner.''

Peter Webbon, chief veterinary advisor to the Jockey Club, added: ''Currently, the risk of spreading the infection from racing is very small, but by taking these thorough measures we are confident we can reduce that to negligible.''

There are no contingency plans in place to save the Festival, with officials still planning for the scheduled start of the fixture on March 13.

Trainers and jockeys have been largely supportive of the decision to suspend racing, but one dissenting voice was that of Channel 4 racing pundit John McCririck who claimed the Jockey Club and the BHB wer "betraying the sport"

l One of the region's leading trainers, Howard Johnson, based at White Lea Farm near Crook, is backing the decision

"I totally agree with the ban, no one really knows how it spreads so all known precautions must be taken," he said

Johnson, who had a winner at Catterick yesterday with Ballybough Rasher, added: "We have a 1,000 acre farm on which we keep 450 cattle plus 600 hundred sheep. We've still not recovered from the BSE crisis and the industry is at rock-bottom, I feel very sorry for the farmers who have already been badly affected.

"Heddon is only 20 miles away and we get our tyres at Wolsingham where I'm told a case of Foot And Mouth has been reported.