Irish Horse Racing Tips – Best Bets on Tipperary’s Thursday Card

Tipperary Horse Racing Tips – Thursday, May 5

The action in Ireland on Thursday centres around Tipperary, which hosts a seven-race Jumps card. Our Irish horse racing expert has identified his top bets on the day which you can check out below.

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Grozni (5.45, Ryans Cleaning Event Specialists Handicap Hurdle)

There’s a particularly interesting runner entered up in this 3m handicap hurdle in the shape of Denis Hogan’s GROZNI.

This son of Saddler Maker hasn’t managed to hit the heights probably expected of him since switched to hurdles, but around this time last year, he was a Market Rasen bumper winner where he gave 6lb and a beating to a horse called Authorised Speed who was recently fifth (best of the British horses) in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham.

Grozni failed to complete on his first start since August when pulled up at Cork eighteen days ago, but the heavy ground was probably against him that day, and the run came in 80-116 company, so dropping into 80-109 level is expected to suit.

He remains unexposed over staying distances having long shaped in maidens as though a stamina test would see him to best effect, and a mark of 104 is clearly workable on the pick of his bumper form, so there’s enough in his price to put him up as an advised selection here.

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Crescent Lake (6.15, Tipperary Racecourse Handicap Chase)

There’s a fascinating runner at Tipperary on Thursday in the form of CRESCENT LAKE, who has shown a marked improvement in form since returning from a break.

Although this 5yo cut little ice in eight starts hurdling for these connections last year, he almost defied odds of 40/1 when beaten a half-length into second on return to the level at Dundalk in March.

Terence O’Brien’s charge showed that effort to be no fluke when fourth back over hurdles at Cork next time, where the ground wouldn’t have been in his favour.

This better surface is expected to suit Crescent Lake far better, and he makes his chasing debut off an opening mark of 97, which looks potentially lenient when considering that Crescent Lake still holds a mid 70s rating on the level.

Horses from this yard tend to be well clued up over fences, so there’s an expectation that Crescent Lake will know his job. At the current odds, he looks well worth siding with in a race that doesn’t appear to hold a lot of strength in depth.

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Quirt Evans (6.45, Berkshire & Rich History @ Kedrah House Stud Beginners Chase)

The best bet on Tipperary’s Thursday card appears to come in the track’s extended 2m7f beginners chase, where QUIRT EVANS takes to the track for trainer David O’Brien and jockey Sean Flanagan.

This 7yo has some smart early-career form to his name behind the likes of Hes A Hardy Bloke and Minella Escape, and he deservedly came good in this sphere when landing a pair of consecutive hurdle races at Tramore last summer.

Quirt Evans ended last year with a Listowel third when attempting to concede weight to a subsequent Graded winner in Impervious. He bombed out on reappearance at Cork last month, but that came on bottomless ground and this is a far more suitable surface for Quirt Evans.

Connections have long viewed this gelding as a chaser in the making and backing their runners blind over these obstacles in recent seasons would have generated a profit of +20.88 to level stakes, so Quirt Evans is backed with confidence to enhance that with victory on Thursday.