Punchestown has been given the go-ahead to resume racing after Inspector of Courses, Bill McLernon, declared the track fit for racing yesterday evening.

The next meeting at the Kildare venue will be on Sunday September 30th. The festival in April was lost after the Turf Club ruled that the meeting could not take place as parts of the course were considered unsafe.

Punchestown`s manager Richie Galway was relieved to get the green light.

He said: 'There have been on-going inspections throughout the summer, the final one being yesterday. We got the all clear yesterday evening.

'Everyone here is delighted and we are all looking forward to getting back racing.

'Our next meeting is due to take place on Sunday, September 30th.'

Galway explained how the trouble had started.

He said: 'It was caused when some drainage work was undertaken last summer and it was not a success.

'The problem was found on October 9th last year. We raced on the centre track then but we haven`t raced on the main track for 12 months.

'It`s given the main track a glorious opportunity to recover and improve.

'The turf has improved greatly as a result of such a break.'