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File photo of horse racing at Leopardstown Racecourse. Alamy Stock Photo

Today's Dublin Racing Festival card postponed after further rain at Leopardstown

17mm of rainfall fell on Leopardstown racecourse overnight.

TODAY’S DUBLIN RACING Festival card has been postponed until Monday following 17mm of rainfall on Leopardstown racecourse overnight.

The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board announced racing would not go ahead following an early morning inspection.

The track was declared fit to race on Friday afternoon but another inspection was scheduled for this morning due to further rain being forecast.

Horse Racing Ireland have said that refunds for General Admission tickets will be issued within ten working days, and no action needs to be taken to process this refund.

Premium Level and The Real Deal tickets will be valid for Monday

Tickets for the rescheduled race are now on sale online for half price.

Paddy Graffin, IHRB Clerk of the Course, said this morning that the track was unraceable today.

“Unfortunately, since yesterday morning, 22mm the day before, we’ve had a further 17mm since then. Quite a lot of rain overnight and unfortunately what appeared to be perfectly fine yesterday is now unraceable.

“There’s a further 2-5mm forecast for the rest of the morning and mainly dry thereafter and dry all through tomorrow into Monday evening. So we’ll have a look in the morning to see what the prospects are for racing tomorrow but unfortunately unfit to race today and racing has been cancelled.”

There will be another inspection ahead of racing scheduled for tomorrow.

Due to today’s rescheduling, Monday’s the Punchestown Meeting, now transfers to Wednesday 4 February.

Earlier this week the course was unraceable with deep standing water on the back straight. However, due to the efforts of ground staff it was able to be drained away and was drying up nicely.

The annual racing festival attracts crowds of around 25,000 from Ireland and abroad.

Eight Grade One races take place over the weekend, with over €2m in prize money up for grabs.

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