Who Will Win the Oaks and Derby at Epsom in June?

The first weekend of June will see all eyes on Epsom. That’s because the Oaks and Derby are being held at the Surrey racecourse on June 6 and June 7. Will it be a good weekend for favourite backers?

Many UK horse racing sites where you can place online bets already have odds and favourites. A classic weekend begins with the Epsom Oaks on Friday June 6. The favourite to win this race is Charlie Appelby’s Desert Flower. The three-year-old won the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket in April, as per Horse.bet.

That made it five wins out of five for the filly with three of the wins being in group company. Her biggest success as a two-year-old was when winning the Group 1 bet365 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket.

That was won by five-and-a-half lengths on soft ground and her excellent form has continued as a three-year-old. The 1000 Guineas was won by a length and she made all in the race. Desert Flower is the 3/1 favourite to win her second classic race of the year. Will the filly be effective over 12 furlongs and try to make all at Epsom?

The second favourite for the Epsom Oaks is Falakeyah who is trained by Owen Burrows. Her on-course debut wasn’t until last November when winning on the all-weather track at Wolverhampton. This season has seen the filly make her turf debut and was an impressive winner of the Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket over ten furlongs. You can get odds of 10/1 on a win at Epsom and that looks good each-way value.

Aidan O’Brien has trained the winner of the Epsom Oaks on ten previous occasions. His last success was in 2022 with Tuesday and that was the third successive year in which the winner had been trained by him.

He has several fancied runners for this year’s race. Shortest in the betting market is Minnie Hawk at 10/1. This runner has won two of her three races. The most recent was this year’s Cheshire Oaks. Sired by the legendary Frankel, that latest win came over a mile-and-three-and-a-half furlongs. Minnie Hawk stayed on well so shouldn’t have any problem being effective over 12 furlongs.

June ends with the WImbledon tennis championships but before that, there’s more excitement at Epsom. Aidan O’Brien holds the record for training the most winners of the Epsom Derby. This year’s race takes place on Saturday June 7. Will O’Brien win the race for the third year in a row?

Last year saw City of Troy win the Epsom Derby. Although strongly fancied to win the race, the three-year-old had to bounce back from a flop in the 2000 Guineas. 12 months later, the favourite to win the Epsom Derby is The Lion in WInter, trained by Aidan O’Brien with odds of 7/2. Could he give O’Brien a record-extending 12th winner of this historic race?

The Lion in Winter won both of his races as a two-year-old. That included a victory in the Group 3 Acomb Stakes. The Epsom Derby is run over a-mile-and-a-half but both of those wins were over seven furlongs. A major factor in this race is whether a horse is able to last out the 12 furlongs. Although untested over this distance, his sire is Sea the Stars who won this race in 2009.

Currently the second favourite to win the 2025 Epsom Derby is Charlie Appelby’s Ruling Court. He’s already enjoyed Classic success this year with victory in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket last month.

The three-year-old is 4/1 to win the Epsom Derby and give Appelby his third win in this race. You might be asking why after his 2000 Guineas success is Ruling Court not the favourite to win the Epsom Derby? Well, he does have to reverse form with The Lion in Winter who beat him by two-and-a-quarter lengths at York last season.

That was over seven furlongs though and there are five more to travel over at Epsom in June. Ruling Court has never gone further than a mile but his sire Justify (winner of the American Triple Crown) has raced over 12 furlongs.

Another strongly fancied runner for Aidan O’Brien is Delacroix who is 8/1 to win the Epsom Derby. He’s won a couple of Group 3 races in his career. One of those was this year with a victory at Leopardstown over ten furlongs. The extra quarter-of-a-mile could bring out more improvement. His sire is Dubawi whose prodigy includes four 2000 Guineas winners and an Oaks winner. He looks a good each-way bet.

Also at 8/1 is another Aidan O’Brien runner, Twain. This contender is unbeaten in the couple of races he had as a two-year-old. Those races were on heavy and soft ground.

The Epsom meeting is always a memorable one and this year looks like being no different. Let’s hope for some great racing.