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Oaks Betting
The Oaks is the most important Classic horse race for fillies, over the same course as The Derby. The best place to entrust with your Oaks betting is
Bet365 Online Bookie (£200 of Free Bets). The Epsom Oaks is run on the first Friday in June, one day before the Derby.
EPSOM OAKS BETTING ODDS:
Epsom, Friday, June 1st; click best odds bold
| Bet365 | Betfred |
Stan James | BetVictor | Paddy Power | William Hill |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| THE FUGUE | 7/2 | 4/1 |
4/1 | 9/2 | 4/1 | 7/2 |
| KISSED | 4/1 | 7/2 |
4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 | 7/2 |
| MAYBE | 4/1 | 4/1 |
4/1 | 3/1 | 7/2 | 7/2 |
| VOW | 5/1 | 5/1 |
4/1 | 5/1 | 11/2 | 5/1 |
| KAILANI | 8/1 | 8/1 |
8/1 | 8/1 | 8/1 | 8/1 |
| HOMECOMING QUEEN | - | - |
- | 12/1 | 12/1 | - |
| COLIMA | 14/1 | 16/1 |
14/1 | 12/1 | 14/1 | 14/1 |
| WAS | 16/1 | 20/1 |
20/1 | 20/1 | 20/1 | 20/1 |
| DALKALA | 20/1 | 16/1 |
16/1 | 20/1 | 16/1 | - |
| WONDERFUL | - | 25/1 |
- | 25/1 | - | - |
| FIRDAWS | 25/1 | 25/1 |
25/1 | 28/1 | 25/1 | 20/1 |
| TWIRL | 33/1 | 33/1 |
25/1 | 20/1 | 20/1 | 14/1 |
|
Other Oaks possible runners are at bigger betting odds, see bookies websites. Each-way bet place terms: 1/4 odds 1,2,3. |
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Rich pickings in Oaks Betting
Oaks betting is always an interesting challenge for punters. Run over a mile and four furlongs at Epsom in June, The Oaks is a Group 1 contest exclusively for three year old fillies. It also the second leg of the Fillies' Triple Crown, preceded by the 1,000 Guineas run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket in late April and followed by the mile and six furlongs St Leger at Doncaster in September.
This Classic race is run one day prior to The Derby and gets far less high profile coverage than its sibling. But the gambling interest is every bit as large for the fillies version of the race as shown for The Derby betting.
The race is named after an estate rented by the 12th Earl of Derby, 'The Oaks', just outside Epsom. It was at a party held on the estate in 1778 that the Earl and his aristocratic friends came up with the idea for such a race and decided on its name.
In the first running of the Oaks in 1779 the race was won by a filly called Bridget, ridden by Dick Goodisson and owned by the Earl. The sceptics may well wonder if the Earl of Derby had a particular filly in mind when creating the race.
Until relatively recently, the list of winning owners of the race resembles a 'Who's Who' of the aristocracy that goes all the way to the monarchy. In 1942 the race was won by King George VI's Sun Chariot, trained by Fred Darling and ridden by Gordon Richards. The Queen has won it twice, in 1957 with Carrozza, trained by Noel Murless and ridden by the legendary Lester Piggott and twenty years later in 1977 with Dunfermline, ridden by little Willie Carson and trained by Dick Hern.
Three year old fillies are notoriously unpredictable - the shortest priced winner in the history of the race was Peter Gilpin's Pretty Polly in 1904 who started at 8/100. Odds on favourites are understandably rare in the Oaks.
In contrast, Vespa won the Oaks in 1833 at 50/1. As recently as 1991 another 50/1 outsider in the Oaks betting has rewarded her followers. Jim Bolger's Jet Ski Lady was more than double the price of the other unfancied horses - the second longest priced filly was 20/1. No one had told Jet Ski Lady that she didn't stand a chance and she led all the way from ten furlongs out and romped home beating her closest pursuer, Luca Cumani's Shamshir, by ten lengths.
Since then winners have ranged from the 20/1 outsider, Dancing Rain, the Danehill Dancer filly trained by William Haggas and ridden to success by Johnny Murtagh in 2011 from Sariska, the daughter of Pivotal, owned and bred by Lady Bamford trained by Michael Bell and partnered by Jamie Spencer who justified her position as 9/4 favourite by beating Sir Henry Cecil's Midday by a head in 2009.
When it comes to picking the winner in the Oaks betting, there are certainly no hard and fast rules that can be applied regarding which end of the market to focus your efforts on. Both favourites and outsiders have succeeded in the past and are likely to so again in the future.
There are a few trainers who are probably worth looking at more closely than the majority of the others before discounting their contenders. Sir Henry Cecil seems to do particularly well in the race. Perhaps it is just the volume of beautifully bred fillies that pass through his hands but he has achieved eight wins in the past 25 years - that's almost a 33% strike rate in the race which is especially impressive when you remember that he hasn't always had a runner.
Ed Dunlop trained fillies are worth taking seriously too as he has had two wins in the past eight years. Yes, one of those was the extraordinarily talented and consistent Ouija Board. She won in 2004, starting at a price of 7/2 and surging clear from over a furlong out under Kieren Fallon to beat the Aidan O'Brien trained favourite in the Oaks betting, All Too Beautiful at 11/4, by seven lengths. Ouija Board went on to become a global superstar recording victories in the Breeders Cup at Churchill downs and taking the Hong Kong Vase in Sha Tin. She was impeccably connected as a daughter of Cape Cross and had a blue-blooded owner, the 19th Earl of Derby (Lord Derby) - one of the many Earls of Derby to have a winner in the Oaks.
Ed Dunlop's other winner, Snow Fairy, had less auspicious beginnings. A daughter of Intikhab, she was bought back by her breeders for just 1,800 euros as a yearling at Tattersalls Ireland December Flat Sale. She was the first foal of Woodland Dream, a very moderate winner over 7 furlongs at three. Snow Fairy won her maiden at the second attempt as a two year old; not at Newmarket, but on the all weather at Lingfield. The £2K that went to the winner may have exceeded her purchase price but it would not have met even the first month of her training fees.
Her two year old season ended with a poor run but she began her three year old season with a win in a listed race at 12/1 over a mile and a furlong at Goodwood. Having stumbled badly at the start, she stayed on well at the business end of the race and collected £23K for her efforts. Her next run that season was in the Oaks itself. She was right in the middle of the bookmakers' boards for the Oaks betting, starting at 9/1. The majority of the money was for Sir Henry Cecil's Aviate, the 7/2 favourite who could only finish 6th and that was after the disqualification of the second placed Meeznah. Snow Fairy was held up in the rear of the field by Ryan Moore and was last of the 14 runners going into the straight. Moore switched left towards the rail and found a way through the wall of horses, pushing her into the lead inside the final furlong. The David Lanigan trained Meeznah finished a neck behind her under Ted Durcan but Aidan O'Brien's Remember When, partnered by Johnny Murtagh, was eventually awarded second place when a banned substance was found in Meeznah's sample.
A month and a half later, Snow Fairy started as the 7/2 favourite in the Irish Oaks betting and collected another £200K for her connections, winning impressively by eight lengths. Mahmood Al Zarooni's filly, Miss Jean Brodie was second under William Buick with Aidan O'Brien's Lady Lupus in third. Unaided by any banned substances, Meeznah finished fourth.
Like Ouija Board, Snow Fairy ran consistently for the rest of the 2010 season, pocketing some major purses in Japan and Hong Kong. There are not many 1,800 euro yearlings that enter their third season in training with over £3 million in prize money to their names. Ed Dunlop may just be ok with fillies.
For punters, like its older brother The Derby, this race comes early in the season and there is only a hotchpotch of form to analyse. Rather than spending all your time trying to spot the value in the Derby Betting, spare a thought for an equally intriguing Classic the day before.
Oaks betting may prove to be an exacting challenge but there is often the opportunity to make worthwhile dividends without having to stake a fortune in the process.