Thurles Horse Racing Tips: Best Bets For Thursday's Action

February 4, 2026

See here our best bets for Thursday’s action in County Tipperary headlined by the Thurles Rated Novice Hurdle.

The ground at Thurles as of Tuesday morning was soft with a largely dry forecast in the build-up to racing.

Thurles Horse Racing Tips

2:17 – Laurets d’Estruval @ 2/1
2:52 – Vitorio Piel @ 5/2
3:27 – Welonlyhavedone @ 10/3

2:17 – Holycross Maiden Hurdle – LAURETS D’ESTRUVAL @ 2/1

In the opening maiden hurdle on the card, a chance is taken on Willie Mullins’ LAURETS D’ESTRUVAL to go one better after finishing runner-up at Limerick on stable debut over Christmas.

The betting that day suggested he was far from fully fit and the form with Eric McNamara’s Starting Fifteen has worked out well, recently seventh in the Grade 1 Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival.

With that effort under his belt the son of Saint Des Saints should have what it takes to reign supreme in this field in receipt of weight from main market rival Le Labo.

Mullins is enjoying a decent start to the calendar year including 13 winners from his last 81 runners (16% strike rate) and the Rich Ricci representative gets a confident vote.

2:52 – www.thurlesraces.ie Maiden Hurdle – VITORIO PIEL @ 5/2

It could look silly taking on the Mullins hotpot Fou De Toi who has been one of the talking horses of the season so far but there must be a reason he hasn’t been seen until now and with his assumedly poor preparation in mind, VITORIO PIEL is hopefully the answer.

The six-year-old was an impressive bumper winner at the Punchestown Festival last May and the form has worked out nicely with Martin Brassil’s It’s Only A Game in behind.

He was a disappointing favourite on hurdles debut at the same venue in October but showed good improvement stepped up in trip a month later, narrowly beaten by Yeshil after suffering interference up the run-in.

Yeshil was third in the Grade 2 Defender Novice Hurdle at Limerick over Christmas and while he massively underperformed at the Dublin Racing Festival, in the context of this race he remains a strong yardstick.

Conceding weight won’t be easy but he should put his experience to good use and run a big race.

An impressive performance on debut from VITORIO PIEL to win the DAR Golf Construction INH Flat Race on the closing day of the @punchestownrace Festival! Trained and owned by Emmet Mullins under a great ride from @johngleeson123! Purchased as a Yearling from @InfoArqana 👏🏽🏆 pic.twitter.com/vLKOhQAxoU

— JD MOORE (@JDMOOREFR) May 3, 2025

3:27 – Thurles Rated Novice Hurdle – WELONLYHAVEDONE @ 10/3

Things are going a little better for the Gavin Cromwell yard than they were through the start of the season, recording five winners from his last 42 runners and WELONYHAVEDONE must hold every chance in the feature.

He was pulled up in a Grade 2 at Cheltenham in November when Keith Donoghue reported his mount was never travelling but third at Navan last month was a solid reintroduction to the fold and evidence he is on the way back.

In late October he was very much in contention to beat Declan Queally’s Grade 1 Ballymore Novice Hurdle scorer I’ll Sort That at Galway when coming down at the final flight and a reproduction of that effort would see him go close.

Going back up in trip can only be a positive and the six-year-old deserves a bit of luck.