llness hits 19 horses at Churchill

LOUISVILLE, Ky., March 18 (UPI) -- Nineteen horses have tested positive for the debilitating strangles disease at Churchill Downs' Trackside training center, it was reported Friday.

The infection is confined to two barns under quarantine since last week, the Louisville Courier-Journal said. The horses will remain at Trackside, about five miles from the main track, until additional test results come back early next week.

Strangles is common on horse farms. But, Churchill officials could not recall an outbreak of the disease either at the racetrack or Trackside, spokesman John Asher said.

The Trackside quarantine comes less than two months before the start of Churchill's spring meet and the May 7 Kentucky Derby