Punchestown hoping for thaw

Officials at Punchestown are hoping milder weather arrives in time to allow their meeting on Saturday to go ahead.

The track is currently unraceable and further frost is expected tonight before milder weather moves in on Friday night.

"The track is not raceable right now and there is another severe frost forecast tonight," said director of racing Richie Galway this afternoon.

"There is a thaw due Friday night into Saturday. It depends how substantial that thaw is in terms of whether we race or not.

"At the present time we are monitoring it and will see what the next 24 hours bring but we'll need a little bit of luck and will need the weather to turn pretty quickly on Saturday morning for us to race.

"The fear is it might just be a little late but we'll have to see.

"There will be an update at 10am on Friday and it's likely that an inspection will be called on Saturday morning."