The Cazoo Derby Festival brings two magnificent days of Flat racing on the world famous Epsom Downs in the heart of the Surrey countryside.
Racegoers will return to the Epsom showpiece in 2021 and Friday June 4th is Oaks Day – also known as Ladies Day at Epsom.
It’s the second Classic Weekend in the British flat-racing season, with The Oaks on Friday for the fillies and The Derby itself on the Saturday.
Ladies Day at Epsom features a seven-race card from 2.00pm-5.40pm with a brace of Group 1 races to be won. The Cazoo Oaks over one-mile-and-four-furlongs is of course the star attraction – the best three-year-old fillies in Britain and Ireland coming together for their premier Classic of the season.
Earlier on the card there’s top-level action for the older generation via the Coronation Cup over the same course and distance as the Classics. The Friday card at Epsom also includes the Woodcote Stakes, Surrey Stakes and three tough handicaps from 7f-1m2f.
MansionBet UK customers can watch every race from Epsom on Oaks Day via live streaming when logged in.
Oaks Day Betting Tips & Predictions
Since 2014 The Oaks at Epsom has been utterly dominated by two trainers – Aidan O’Brien and John Gosden – winners of the last seven renewals between them, with the Irish trainer ahead four-three following last year’s demolition job from the outstanding filly Love.
The sheer quality of recent Oaks winners have been high, with the likes of Minding (2016) and Enable (2017) going on to record superb tallies of Group 1 wins. Plenty will be anticipating something similar from last year’s winner Love.
O’Brien once again has the ante-post favourite for the 2021 Epsom Oaks in Santa Barbara. The daughter of Derby-winner Camelot has raced just twice. She won a maiden last season easily and finished fourth in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on her seasonal bow recently.
She was fancied as 5/2 joint-favourite for that race and will have learned plenty despite being beaten on the Rowley Mile. Her Ballydoyle handler thinks Santa Barbara can be a bit special and we may will see her improving for this longer trip around Epsom. She heads the betting for The Oaks at 13/8 as her trainer bids to win this race for the ninth time in his stunning career.
Such is the depth of talent at O’Brien’s disposal, he also has second-favourite Snowfall, impressive winner of York’s Group 3 Musidora Stakes recently, in the mix for this fillies’ Classic.
The British challenge is led – on the betting at least – by Roger Varian. The Newmarket trainer has two chances to win a first Oaks, with Zeyaadah and Teona popular in the market.
The former was runner-up in the Cheshire Oaks to Mark Johnston’s Dubai Fountain – also an Epsom contender – while Teona was third at York behind Snowfall and Sir Michael Stoute’s Noon Star. Between them, that sextet are the only Oaks contenders currently at single-figure odds.
The other Group 1 on Friday has Al Aasy at the head of the betting for William Haggas. The Shadwell-owned runner has easily won successive Group 3s at Newbury this spring over the mile-and-a-half trip and looks every inch of a top-level performer in the making. O’Brien could send over Japan and Broome, while Pyledriver – luckless in last year’s Derby – and Hukum are amongst the potential home-based opposition to Al Aasy.
Epsom Derby Festival Day 1 – Oaks Day Racecard June 4th 2021
Epsom is the centre of the racing world for two days in June as the Surrey Downs stages the second Classic-weekend of the British season. Friday is Ladies Day at Epsom in every way, for both racegoers and the equine stars.
The Cazoo Oaks is the feature race, the 1m4f Classic providing a true test of stamina for the three-year-old fillies, a natural progression from Newmarket’s 1000 Guineas for some. The Oaks is the main event on day one at Epsom and is scheduled to go off as race five of seven at 4.30pm.
There’s also Group 1 action via the Coronation Cup and some competitive handicaps on Friday’s card at Epsom alongside the Woodcote and Surrey Stakes.
The full Ladies Day race programme is below.
| TIME | RACE | DISTANCE | CONDITIONS |
| 2.00pm | Cazoo Woodcote EBF Stakes | 6f | 2YO only |
| 2.35pm | Ebbisham Handicap Stakes | 1m½f | 4YO+ |
| 3.10pm | Coronation Cup (Group 1) | 1m4f | 4YO+ |
| 3.45pm | Cazoo Handicap Stakes | 1m2f | 4YO+ |
| 4.30pm | Cazoo Oaks (Group 1) | 1m4f | 3YO fillies |
| 5.10pm | Surrey Stakes | 7f | 3YO only |
| 5.40pm | Cazoo Derby Festival Handicap Stakes | 7f | 3YO+ |
Race 1 – 2.00pm – Cazoo Woodcote EBF Stakes (6f)
The Derby Festival gets underway with a two-year-old European Breeders Fund conditions contest over the six-furlong trip at Epsom. The Woodcote often attracts some of the sharpest early season sprinters in the UK and Ireland and it was first run all the way back in 1794.
| YEAR | WINNER | TRAINER | JOCKEY | ODDS |
| 2018 | Cosmic Law | Richard Fahey | PJ McDonald | 10/1 |
| 2019 | Pinatubo | Charlie Appleby | James Doyle | 1/1 fav |
| 2020 | Twaasol | Owen Burrows | Martin Harley | 9/4jf |
Race 2 – 2.35pm – Ebbisham Handicap Stakes (1m½f)
The first handicap of the Epsom meeting and it’s for horses aged four-years and older. A maximum field of 18 can go to post for the Ebbisham Stakes, run over a distance of one-mile-and-half-a-furlong. With the Derby Festival run on a single day in 2020 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, this race was omitted.
| YEAR | WINNER | TRAINER | JOCKEY | ODDS |
| 2018 | Medburn Dream | Peter Hedger | Franny Norton | 5/1 |
| 2019 | Gossiping | Gary Moore | Andrea Atzeni | 10/1 |
| 2020 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Race 3 – 3.10pm – Coronation Cup (Group 1, 1m4f)
The Coronation Cup is the first Group 1 of the Epsom Festival and is run over the Classic course and distance of 1m4f on the Downs. It’s open to horses aged four-years and older. In 2020 it was won by Ghaiyyath (run at Newmarket) – the Godolphin horse forging a season that saw him rated the world’s best by the autumn.
| YEAR | WINNER | TRAINER | JOCKEY | ODDS |
| 2018 | Cracksman | John Gosden | Frankie Dettori | 2/7fav |
| 2019 | Defoe | Roger Varian | Andrea Atzeni | 11/1 |
| 2020 | Ghaiyyath | Charlie Appleby | William Buick | 11/10fav |
Race 4 – 3.45pm – Cazoo Handicap Stakes (1m2f)
The second handicap on the card is run over an intermediate distance of a mile-and-a-quarter and, once more, the race is open to horses aged four-years and older. Mark Johnson won this race in 2020 with Sky Defender on the rearranged one-day Epsom Festival in July.
| YEAR | WINNER | TRAINER | JOCKEY | ODDS |
| 2018 | Ajman King | Roger Varian | Andrea Atzeni | 5/4fav |
| 2019 | Mountain Angel | Roger Varian | Andrea Atzeni | 11/4fav |
| 2020 | Sky Defender | Mark Johnston | Joe Fanning | 22/1 |
Race 5 – 4.30pm – Cazoo Oaks (Group 1, 1m4f)
The main event on day one of Epsom is the Cazoo Oaks, the second fillies-only Classic of the British season. Aidan O’Brien and John Gosden have dominated this race in recent times, winning the last seven renewals between them with superstars like Minding, Enable and, last year, Love.
| YEAR | WINNER | TRAINER | JOCKEY | ODDS |
| 2018 | Forever Together | Aidan O’Brien | Donnacha O’Brien | 7/1 |
| 2019 | Anapurna | John Gosden | Frankie Dettori | 8/1 |
| 2020 | Love | Aidan O’Brien | Ryan Moore | 11/10fav |
Race 6 – 5.10pm – Surrey Stakes (7f)
The Listed Surrey Stakes is a conditions race open only to three-year-olds and is run over seven-furlongs. It is the penultimate race on Ladies Day at Epsom and has been dominated by British-trained horses – with just one Irish winner since its inception in 1995. The 2020 renewal was opened to older horses owing to the pandemic.
| YEAR | WINNER | TRAINER | JOCKEY | ODDS |
| 2018 | Lake Volta | Mark Johnston | Silvestre De Sousa | 3/1 |
| 2019 | Space Blues | Charlie Appleby | James Doyle | 6/5fav |
| 2020 | Safe Voyage | John Quinn | Jason Hart | 6/5fav |
Race 7 – 5.40pm – Cazoo Derby Festival Handicap Stakes (7f)
The concluding act on Friday at Epsom is a handicap over seven-furlongs open to horses aged three-years and older. It’s often a tough puzzle for punters to solve on the final race of the afternoon at Epsom.
| YEAR | WINNER | TRAINER | JOCKEY | ODDS |
| 2018 | Shared Equity | Jedd O’Keefe | Jack Garrity | 9/1 |
| 2019 | Corazon Espinado | Simon Dow | Tom Marquand | 7/1 |
| 2020 | Muntadab | Roger Fell | Ben Curtis | 7/2fav |
Betting & Promotions for Epsom Festival Day 1
Be sure to check out the MansionBet promotions page for all of our best offers ahead of Ladies Day at Epsom on Friday June 4th. We’ll have best odds guaranteed on all races at Epsom and customers can watch every race via live streaming when logged into the MansionBet website – so you won’t need to miss a beat of the Epsom action even if you’re on the go.
We’ll have promotions at the Derby Festival, including our ‘Beaten a Head or Less’ if your horse is beaten a head in selected races.
Also be sure to check back here close to the 2021 Epsom Derby Festival racedays as we’ll have tips and predictions for every race from our racing experts to help punters make their selections.
*All odds correct at time of writing.