One of the world’s oldest races and one of Britain’s five Classics is the Oaks. Epsom Oaks betting is special, as we try to predict who the best filly is and grab the value in the markets. Here, I’m giving out my ante-post Oaks betting tips, explaining how I pick them, sharing the best sites to bet with, and breaking down all you need to know about this historic race at Epsom Downs.
- 1 Epsom Oaks Betting Odds
- 2 Best Epsom Oaks Betting Sites
- 3 When Is the Oaks? Date, Race Time, Venue & Prize Money
- 4 Upcoming Horse Racing Events
- 5 Epsom Oaks Betting Tips Today
- 6 How We Select Our Epsom Oaks Betting Tips
- 7 Other Horse Racing Events for Betting
- 8 Best Prep Races for the Oaks
- 9 The History of the Oaks
- 10 The Epsom Oaks Betting FAQs
Epsom Oaks Betting Odds
Keep a close eye on our horse racing betting sites in advance of this race. Epsom Oaks 2026 betting can change regularly as we get to know more about the contenders, while ground conditions will also play a part.
Latest Epsom Oaks Betting Offers
We’ve done the donkey work here, pulling together the best Epsom Oaks betting offers including welcome promos that can be used for horse racing. As the race draws closer, we’ll add to this with free bet deals and other specials found at our best online bookies.
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Best Epsom Oaks Betting Sites
Payment methods(10):
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Choose your horse racing betting apps and websites carefully by making sure they have what you are looking for.
When Is the Oaks? Date, Race Time, Venue & Prize Money
The iconic Epsom Downs, as always, is the venue for the 2026 Oaks. The fillies’ Classic is run on day one of the Derby Festival, Friday 5 June, with the colts’ Classic (the Derby), and the Coronation Cup run on Saturday 6 June.
We’re expecting more than 60,000 people at the meeting this year, and what a sight that will be. Oaks 2026 betting has been hot for some time now, and will continue to spiral this way and that before post time at 4:00pm. The Oaks has a prize fund of £625,000, part of an overall pot of almost £4.75 million across the two days.
Supporting Races
The Derby will be my main betting concern on Friday 5 June, and it’s the feature race of the day, but there’s so much more happening on the track at Epsom. Here are the other highlights of the Derby Festival:
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Diomed Stakes. A Group 3 race run on Friday.
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Surrey Stakes. Another Friday feature, this time a Listed race run over seven furlongs.
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Tattenham Corner Stakes. The opening event on Saturday, a Group 3 seven-furlong contest.
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Princess Elizabeth Stakes. Saturday again – a Group 3 race over a mile.
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Coronation Cup. A massive international Group 1, run over a mile and a half, much like the Oaks and the Derby, but this time for older horses.
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The Derby. The fourth Classic of the season, following the 2000 Guineas, 1000 Guineas, and the Oaks.
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The ‘Dash’. Officially the fastest horse race in the world, a five-furlong sprint handicap on Saturday run largely downhill.
Predictions for the Dash, the Coronation Cup, the Derby, and other major races will a listed with my usual horse racing tips for Saturday on 6 June 2026.
Upcoming Horse Racing Events
No upcoming events.
Epsom Oaks Betting Tips Today
I already have some solid Oaks 2026 betting tips having watched all the trials throughout April and May. Things can and will change before the big race, and I’ll have full Epsom Oaks predictions as we get closer to the race. Still, the ante-post Oaks 2026 betting has provided some early opportunities.
Juddmonte to leave a lasting Legacy
John & Thady Gosden know how to win this race, and top owner-breeders Juddmonte have had the likes of Enable over the years. The way their filly Legacy Link won the Musidora tells me she’s an Oaks filly, and she can be backed having handled the track well in a recent gallop.
Cameo could play more than a small part
Aidan O’Brien has the two market leaders and has done incredibly well in this race, but Amelia Earhart’s form is exaggerated, and Precise likely won’t stay the trip. His Lingfield Oaks Trial winner Cameo however was impressive, and could be staying on really well at the death.
In terms of the chances of Legacy Link, the 2014 Oaks winning jockey and former champ appears to agree. You can see my exclusive interview with Paul Hanagan to find out more about his thoughts on the Oaks, the Derby, and riding Epsom.
How We Select Our Epsom Oaks Betting Tips
Nothing is left to chance. I cover all the angles I can in picking out Oaks betting tips. Here are some of the main factors taken into consideration.
These are the fillies we believe to be the best middle-distance three-year-olds. I want to know whether they’re good enough to compete, or at the very least that they have the potential to win in this grade and over this distance. Their profiles tell me whether they are improving enough to take a hand.
Something I mention a lot in my horse racing betting previews is progression. Young thoroughbreds don’t stand still. There may be peaks and troughs, but overall, they are moving up the ranks all the time. It’s up to me to work out how much progression is still to come from a filly, and when that peak may arrive.
Epsom Oaks 2026 betting will be partly based on breeding, not just form. I have to understand the various pedigrees on show in the race so that I can make an informed judgement on whether these fillies will handle Epsom, the trip, and the grade.
Like footballers, jockeys and trainers have different levels of ability. The Oaks Betting odds are built partly on this, with Aidan O’Brien and John Gosden trusted more to train an Oaks filly than some ‘smaller’ trainers. Jockeys too must show their ability – it’s unlikely that a journeyman jockey will ride Epsom well in the Oaks.
We don’t see many Oaks contenders who are already proven over twelve furlongs. To judge whether or not they’ll stay, I look at stride patterns, running style, how they finished their races, and pedigrees.
Epsom is iconic and unique. Horses have to canter all the way to the mile and a half start, turn right after leaving the stalls, climb, turn left, go downhill, and then back up again towards the line. These fillies need tactical speed, balance, and stamina. Stamina in fact is more important in the Oaks than in the Derby, something I keep in mind for the Oaks betting tips I give.
The latest Epsom Oaks betting is built around the assumption that we’ll be racing on ground quicker than good. That’s not always the case. If the rain comes, certain runners will be affected more than others. You can find out more about ground conditions in our horse racing beginners’ guide.
Look for proven stamina in the pedigree
A good ten-furlong colt could win the Derby, but winners of the Oaks really need to possess more stamina. Don’t back a filly out of a broodmare with no stamina, or who isn’t from a wider stamina-laden family.
Recent Epsom Oaks Winners
The five Classics have such a wonderful history – these are the last 10 winners of the Oaks:
| Year | Winner | SP | Trainer | Jockey | Sire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Minding | 10/11F | Aidan O’Brien | Ryan Moore | Galileo |
| 2017 | Enable | 6/1 | John Gosden | Frankie Dettori | Nathaniel |
| 2018 | Forever Together | 7/1 | Aidan O’Brien | Donnacha O’Brien | Galileo |
| 2019 | Anapurna | 8/1 | John Gosden | Frankie Dettori | Frankel |
| 2020 | Love | 11/10F | Aidan O’Brien | Ryan Moore | Galileo |
| 2021 | Snowfall | 11/2 | Aidan O’Brien | Frankie Dettori | Deep Impact |
| 2022 | Tuesday | 13/2 | Aidan O’Brien | Ryan Moore | Galileo |
| 2023 | Soul Sister | 11/4 | John Gosden | Frankie Dettori | Frankel |
| 2024 | Ezeliya | 13/2 | Dermot Weld | Chris Hayes | Dubawi |
| 2025 | Minnie Hauk | 9/2 | Aidan O’Brien | Ryan Moore | Frankel |
Many will see this list and have their eyes drawn to Aidan O’Brien, but look at the breeding. Is it down to the trainer, or down to the pedigree? The great Derby winner Galileo is the sire of four of these winners, and his own son Frankel is the sire of another three.
In 2021, Emily Upjohn was very unlucky. Had she won, it would have meant a fourth win on this list for John Gosden, and one for sire Sea The Stars, another great Derby winner. The idea here is to remind you not to get hung up on Aidan O’Brien’s record, but to pay close attention to the pedigrees – something often missed by the layers when compiling Oaks betting odds.
Other Horse Racing Events for Betting
As always, all Derby Festival betting will be ferocious, including on the Oaks. After Epsom is over, we will see many of these horses join up with the rest of the world’s best thoroughbreds at the other major fixtures during the 2026 Flat season. Highlights include:
Best Prep Races for the Oaks
Oaks prep races, or “trials”, are valuable form angles before Epsom, but I never use them exclusively to judge talent. Each filly’s own ability and pedigree speaks louder than what race they’ve run in, but these events are still important for us to be able to second guess progression and stamina.
We refer to these races as trials, but they are all good events on the Pattern in their own right. No points system is needed to get into the Oaks, and therefore trainers don’t have their fillies at peak condition until Epsom comes around.
The unknown is what intrigues us, as some fillies will improve more than others from the trials to the big day. This is one of the things that makes betting on the Epsom Oaks so fascinating.
For what it’s worth, these are the best recognised Oaks trial races, listing this year’s featured runners:
| Race | Venue | Distance | 2026 Winner | 2026 Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pretty Polly Stakes | Newmarket | 1m2f | Jennifer Jane | Sacred Ground |
| Cheshire Oaks | Chester | 1m3½f | Amelia Earhart | I’m The One |
| Lingfield Oaks Trial | Lingfield | 1m3½f | Cameo | Prizeland |
| Musidora Stakes | York | 1m2½f | Legacy Link | Felicitas |
| Height of Fashion Stakes | Goodwood | 1m2f | Inis Mor | Earth Shot |
Why are they run over different distances? The idea isn’t to necessarily test these fillies over the full mile and a half trip until the Oaks. The Cheshire Oaks is only half a furlong shorter, but is run around the tight bends of Chester which means some pace is needed.
The biggest test of stamina on the list would be the Musidora, which challenges the fillies to see out more than a mile and a quarter at York up a long, galloping straight, and the Lingfield Derby Trial over a furlong further. I’d already backed I’m The One before her injury and Cheshire Oaks defeat, while I like the winners of these key trials, Legacy Link and Cameo.
The History of the Oaks
The Oaks was formed after the St Leger, but before the Derby. It was first run in 1779 when the Earl of Derby hosted one of his gatherings at Epsom, naming the new fillies’ race after the estate house there, The Oaks.
The idea was to run elite three-year-old fillies, and it proved incredibly popular. The Derby followed a year later, before the idea was taken abroad with races like the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks following. We’re creeping up to 250 years of the Oaks, giving this race way more history than many sports, including football, and it remains one of the most popular and most important races on the calendar.
Like the Derby, the Oaks is crucial for the breeding element of this sport. Many Oaks contenders go on to be quality broodmares, meaning this race is about far more than Oaks betting odds and trophies.
This is a special event, one you can be involved in via Epsom Oaks betting. Do it the right way though – make sure you compare the best online bookies we have for racing offers, promotions, and odds.
The Epsom Oaks Betting FAQs
Amelia Earhart, trained by Aidan O’Brien. She is followed by Precise for the same trainer, and Legacy Link for the John & Thady Gosden team.
By using a combination of form, understanding pedigrees and progression, that’s how experts pick Epsom Oaks predictions. Fillies are trained to peak at Oaks time – it’s up to us to judge which ones will handle Epsom and perform best.
Outsiders have a better record in the Derby than in the Oaks, though Qualify did win the race in 2015 at 50/1.
Oaks 2026 betting offers wiggle room. You can bet using the ante-post markets any time before the race, but it is often best to wait until all the trial races are run. Waiting until the final field and ground conditions are known is best, before finding the best Oaks betting site.
Aidan O’Brien has a fine record, and not always with his first-choice runners. His Cameo, winner of the Lingfield Oaks Trial, is a worthy each-way alternative to the big guns. Always look out for sites offering free bets before betting on long shots.