Racing: The two steeplechase races scheduled for Punchestown tomorrow have been abandoned due to what a course spokesman described as "tired ground".

An inspection yesterday found the chase track unfit for racing and other races will be divided to make up a seven-race card.

"Basically it's a combination of the rainfall from last week - we had over and inch and a half - and wear and tear from the winter," said the Punchestown spokesman, Richie Galway.

"We've been moving the rails all winter but we are out of room now and there is no more ground to go on to. We've also been told that up five millimetres of rain could fall in the next 24 hours and we had to make a decision in order to divide the hurdles and make seven races," he said.

"The course was put back and rolled and filled in after the last meeting but we had three chases that day, including one over three and a half miles, and the course was just not repairing. It's tired ground after all the racing that has been on it since October," Galway added.

The Trainers Association spokesman, Jim Kavanagh, said yesterday that his members will want both chase races re-scheduled.