Irish Horse Racing Tips: Today's Irish Racing and Festival Previews

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By The Guv'nor · Last updated October 2026

My Irish horse racing tips go out in my morning newsletter: a short list of bets across UK and Irish racing, every one backed with my own money. The Winners Club gets the daily premium newsletter for £9.99 a month, and free members get Friday's. Below are the coming Irish meetings and the numbers behind how I bet them.

Coming up in Irish racing (6 October to 30 November 2026)

This list was put together on 6 October 2026 from the Horse Racing Ireland fixture list and the racecourses' own websites. At that point HRI's list still marked Thurles TBC (to be confirmed) on Thursday 8 October and on the three November Thursdays. HRI's ground reports and Thurles's own site both have racing on for 8 October, but I couldn't find anything confirming the November dates. Fixtures do get moved and abandoned, especially once the winter weather turns, so check the day's card before you bet.

For the day's going, the official word is on the HRI ground reports page, and the cards are on HRI racecards. If the Irish going descriptions (yielding and the rest) are new to you, my horse racing going guide explains each one.

Irish horse racing tips from The Guv'nor: what you get and when

Look, I'm not going to dress it up. My newsletter is a short list for your betting of the day, and the Irish bets sit in it alongside the British ones. It lands in your inbox in the morning, so you can take a price before the market moves.

A typical day has two kinds of bet:

• Bankers. A banker, in my book, is a shorter-priced bet I think is solid. Not a certainty, because there's no such thing, just the bet I'm happiest about.
• Outsiders. These come from a new but proven system that picks out horses that have won, or come close, off a higher weight or mark than they're running off today. That's a handicap idea, and Ireland runs plenty of big handicaps.

When I have inside information it goes in too: I own racehorses, so I pass on stable information when I have it, plus smart money updates from the market as they happen.

Every bet comes with a stake in points, and every horse I tip I'm betting on myself. Some days there's nothing worth backing and I'll tell you it's a stinky day for the ponies, rather than invent a bet to fill the email. If you want the full rundown of how my tips service works, it's all on that page.

My actual Irish selections go out to Winners Club members in my morning newsletter.

Price

Price of the service is a fixed £9.99 monthly and that will never change and you can cancel anytime if it's not for you. To break that down for you that's about 32p a day for a whole month or a going to have a McDonalds with a mate. Crazy right?

I've priced it cheap because I want it accessible to absolutely everyone and build a community of winners - If I am honest the £9.99 is just there as a filter if you like so that only serious people sign up. If the paid version isn't for you just yet, then feel free to sign up to the free service.

My promise.

Look, I can't guarantee every tip every day is going to win (anyone that can is a fraudster). But I can promise you that every horse I will tip I am betting on myself and through my data analysis techniques it should be in with a very strong chance of bolting up and winning and over a long enough period you will be profitable.

Here's what some of our paid members have been saying:

Give it a go, what have you got to lose? It's only a tenner a month. Feel free to try out the free version first!

- The Guv'nor

Why Irish racing needs its own approach (the numbers)

I'm essentially a statistics and maths geek, so before I tell you Irish racing is different, here's the proof. I went through a full year of Betfair Starting Price (BSP) files, every UK and Irish win market from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026, and split them by country.

How I built it: the free daily BSP files from Betfair's BSP download page. Win markets only: the two "To Be Placed" markets that turn up inside the UK win files are left out, which leaves 12,991 races (2,905 Irish, 10,086 UK) and 119,341 runners, and every race had a winner. "Runners" means horses with a BSP, including those at Betfair's 1,000 price cap, so non-runners drop out. Joint favourites both count as the favourite. Handicaps (nurseries included) and maidens are taken from Betfair's race names ("Hcap", "Hcp", "Nursery", "Mdn"). The BSP favourite isn't always the bookmakers' SP favourite. One season only, so treat the smaller splits as a guide, not gospel.

The headline is field size. Irish races average just over three more runners than British ones, and one Irish race in six has 16 or more. In Irish handicaps, 22.6% of races had 16 or more runners, and in Irish jumps handicaps it was 26.9% (643 races).

Bigger fields mean favourites get beaten more. An Irish handicap favourite won 23.0% of the time, so it lost roughly three races in every four. More than a quarter of all Irish winners went off at BSP 11.0 or bigger, and in Irish jumps handicaps it was 40.9% (643 races). Two in five, at 10/1 or bigger.

That's why I care about price far more than strike rate in Ireland. If you only back favourites, you'll have a nice win rate on the shorter ones and a lot of losing days in the handicaps. For the full favourites breakdown, including UK splits and odds-on shots, see how often favourites win.

The Irish tracks, course by course

Here's the same BSP data by course, for the ten Irish tracks that staged 140 or more races in the year.

If I am honest, one season by course is noisy. With around 150 races, a couple of favourites either way moves the figure by more than a point. The smaller tracks swing even more: Ballinrobe's favourites won 22.4% of 67 races and Killarney's 45.3% of 95. I wouldn't build a bet on either number.

Dundalk is the one to know about in winter. HRI describes it as Ireland's first and only all-weather racecourse with floodlights, racing on Polytrack, and in the eight weeks above it races every Friday evening, plus five of the eight Wednesdays. It also staged more races than any other Irish track in the sample.

Two of the tracks on the Irish fixture list, Down Royal and Downpatrick, are in Northern Ireland. They race under the Irish programme, so they're in the Irish figures here.

The Curragh and the draw

The Curragh hosts all five Irish Classics: the 2,000 Guineas, 1,000 Guineas, Derby, Oaks and St Leger. On the Flat, the draw is worth checking before you bet. My Curragh draw bias guide splits the straight sprint track from the round course, distance by distance, so you know when a stall number is worth worrying about.

The Irish festivals: Leopardstown, the Dublin Racing Festival, Fairyhouse and Punchestown

The four big Irish jumps festivals each have their own preview page. Here's where they fall, and how last year's renewals went for the market, again from the BSP files.

Put together that's 107 festival races, with the favourite winning 31 (29.0%) and 38 winners (35.5%) at BSP 11.0 or bigger. One year of festivals is a tiny sample, so read it as a hint that the big Irish meetings are no place to lump on short prices, not as a rule.

Leopardstown Christmas Festival

Leopardstown runs four days of jumps racing from 26 to 29 December 2026, with seven Grade 1s across the meeting according to the racecourse. My Leopardstown Christmas Festival tips page goes through it day by day.

Dublin Racing Festival

Leopardstown has the 2027 Dublin Racing Festival down for Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 January. The 2026 renewal, which Betfair's files show running on Sunday 1 and Monday 2 February, had eight Grade 1s among its 15 races (going by Betfair's race names), and its form gets picked over all the way to Cheltenham. The dates, the trends and how I read it are on my Dublin Racing Festival preview, and the Cheltenham side is on my Cheltenham Festival tips page.

Fairyhouse and the Irish Grand National

The Irish Grand National is run over 3m5f (about 5,830 metres) at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday, which falls on 29 March 2027. HRI's 2027 list has Fairyhouse racing on 27, 28 and 29 March. The 2026 renewal went to Soldier In Milan (trained by Emmet Mullins), the BSP favourite at 7.80 in a field of 30. A 30-runner handicap is exactly where the each-way maths gets interesting, and my Irish Grand National tips page has the trends.

Punchestown Festival

HRI's 2027 fixture list has Punchestown racing from Tuesday 27 April to Saturday 1 May 2027. It's the end-of-season meeting, coming after Cheltenham and Aintree, so how much a horse has left in the tank matters as much as its best form. In 2026 the BSP favourite won only 10 of the 40 races. The full preview is on my Punchestown Festival tips page, and the British spring dates are on my big races calendar.

How I bet Irish handicaps and big-field maidens

My selection process stays in the newsletter, but here's how I handle the bets themselves. None of it is clever on its own; together it's the difference between a bank that lasts and one that doesn't.

Profit, not win rate. Anyone can talk about high win rates when they tip odds-on horses all day. In a 16-runner Irish handicap the favourite is beaten most of the time, so I'm hunting for value further down the market. I like outsiders and each-way value: even when they place, we make more profit than an odds-on shot winning. The place terms are on my each-way betting explained page.

The mark matters. My outsiders system looks for horses that have won or come close off a higher weight or mark than today's. Irish handicaps, with so many runners, give that idea plenty to work with.

Points, always. I divide my bank into points and never bet outside them. On a £100 bank, 1pt is £5. If you bet in euro, the worked example is the same: a €200 bank at 1pt = €10 means a 1pt each-way bet costs €20 in total, because each-way is two bets. Don't chase, don't go all in on a feeling, and if you're not sure about a bet, skip it.

Maidens are a different game. Irish maidens are bigger than British ones (12.2 runners on average against 8.3 in the BSP files), and the favourite wins less often, 41.9% against 48.8%. That's a nudge to respect the price on a newcomer rather than assume the market has it right.

Losers are part of it. When the favourite wins fewer than one Irish handicap in four, you will have losing runs. Understanding that losers are a thing is the key to being a winner longer term. Trust the process. My staking plans guide covers how big those runs can get.

Irish racing tips: FAQs

Where can I get Irish racing tips today?

My Irish tips go out in my morning newsletter, alongside any British bets. Winners Club members get it every day it goes out; free members get the Friday premium newsletter. You can sign up here and pick either plan.

Who are the best Irish tipsters?

Judge any tipster on profit over a long run, not strike rate. Ask whether they bet their own tips, whether they give stakes in points and whether they're honest about losing days. I go through the maths of paying for tips in are horse racing tipsters worth it.

What are the best platforms for daily Irish horse racing tips?

For tips, I'd pick a service that sends them early enough to take a price, shows a stake with every bet, and has a tipster who says when there's nothing worth backing. For the official cards, going and results, use Horse Racing Ireland's own site.

Do favourites win less often in Ireland than in the UK?

In the BSP files for 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026, the Irish favourite won 33.0% of 2,905 races against 35.6% of 10,086 in the UK. The gap is biggest in handicaps: 23.0% in Ireland against 31.1% in the UK.

Are Down Royal and Downpatrick Irish racing?

Both are in Northern Ireland but race on the Irish fixture list, and HRI lists them as Irish racecourses. Down Royal's big autumn fixture, the BetVictor Festival of Racing, is on 30 and 31 October 2026.

Do you tip every day?

Not if there's nothing worth backing. Some days are a stinky day for the ponies, and I'd rather send no bet than a bad one. That's also why the betting strategy I follow puts skipping a bet on the same level as placing one.

Other guides

• How my premium tips work
• Big races calendar and previews
• How to bet on horse racing
• Horse racing betting strategy
• How to read horse racing form
• UK and Irish racecourses