The Cross Country Chase scheduled to take place at the Cheltenham Festival on Wednesday has been abandoned and will not be run at this year's meeting.

The Jockey Club had looked at moving the race to Friday if cancelled today, but with further rainfall forecast over the coming days, they have taken the decision to abandon the race completely.

They said in a statement on Wednesday morning: "Following 11mm of rainfall throughout yesterday, there has been no improvement in the conditions on the Cross-Country course and with areas of the track unraceable, the Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase has sadly been abandoned.

Sign up for our Cheltenham Festival news service on WhatsApp

Click on this link or scan the QR code to receive the latest Cheltenham Festival news and top stories from the Irish Mirror direct to your phone on WhatsApp. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.

"The forecast for the remainder of the week continues to look unsettled, with further showers likely on both Thursday and Friday. There will therefore be insufficient improvement to the Cross-Country course by Friday 15th March, and the decision has been taken not to reschedule the Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase at The Festival."

The Going on the Old & New course is Soft, Heavy in Places.

As a result of the abandonment of the Cross Country Chase, there are revised race times for Wednesday. They are as follows:

• Race 1: 1345

• Race 2: 1430

• Race 3: 1515

• Race 4: 1600

• Race 5: NA

• Race 6: 1650

• Race 7: 1730

To join our Cheltenham Festival 2024 WhatsApp community all you have to do is click this link.

Sign up to our horse racing newsletter here to get direct to your inbox for news on the Cheltenham Festival.