- Punchestown and Irish Grand National will not be rearranged
- Willie Mullins and Paul Townend take champions’ awards
Irish racing bowed to the inevitable on Wednesday with an announcement that the five-day Punchestown Festival, which was due to open on 28 April, has been cancelled as a result of the lockdown to combat coronavirus. Neither Punchestown nor the Grand National Festival at Fairyhouse, which had been scheduled for its traditional slot on Easter weekend, will be rescheduled and as a result, the 2019-20 jumps season has now officially closed.
It could now be several months before another horse jumps a fence in public in Ireland, as Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), the sport’s ruling body, also said on Wednesday that when the sport eventually resumes it will do so with a month of Flat-only fixtures, almost certainly behind closed doors.
Related: Talking Horses: Newton Abbot feels pinch from 'cruel hand' of coronavirus
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