In this guide to Epsom Derby betting offers and free bets, we throw the spotlight on the best deals you can get from online bookmakers in the UK. We’ll also provide you with a preview of the Derby action and some tips on how to maximise your chances of picking a winner.
£50 in Free Bets When You Bet £10
£50 in Free Bets When You Bet £10
Bet £10, Get £40
Bet £10, Get £40
Bet £10 Get £25 In Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £25 In Free Bets
Bet £20 and get it back as cash if it loses
Bet £20 and get it back as cash if it loses
Bet £10, Get £20 In Free Bets
Bet £10, Get £20 In Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £30 In Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £30 In Free Bets
£35 Free Bet + 10 Free Spins
£35 Free Bet + 10 Free Spins
Bet £10 & Get £30 in Free Bets for new customers at bet365
Bet £10 & Get £30 in Free Bets for new customers at bet365
Bet £10 Get £50 Free Bet
Bet £10 Get £50 Free Bet
Bet £10 Get £20 in Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £20 in Free Bets
50% of First Day Losses Back As a Free Bet Up To £25
50% of First Day Losses Back As a Free Bet Up To £25
Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Football Bet Builders
Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Football Bet Builders
Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets
Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £30 Free Bet
Bet £10 Get £30 Free Bet
Before we get onto the topic of betting offers, it makes sense to show you the odds that bookmakers are currently offering about the race. Here, then, are the Epsom Derby betting 2025 odds for the market leaders (as of 12:00, 02/07/24):
Epsom Derby Ante Post 2024 Betting Odds |
|
Runner | Odds |
Age of Gold | 25/1 |
Cadogan | 25/1 |
Gun Carriage | 25/1 |
Ancient Truth | 33/1 |
Gun of Brixton | 33/1 |
Henri Matisse | 33/1 |
Pentle Bay | 33/1 |
Surpass | 33/1 |
Anno Domini | 40/1 |
Celeborn | 40/1 |
Maestro Bernstein | 40/1 |
50/1 bar |
The Epson Derby has been a highlight of the flat horse racing season for more than 240 years. It was first run in May 1780 and was initially named after the Epsom Downs Racecourse, where it continues to be held, and the Earl of Derby, who was one of its sponsors.
Today, the race is sponsored by the popular British bookmaker Betfred. Dubbed ‘the Greatest Flat Race in the World’, it’s a Group 1 flat race for three-year-olds that is run over a distance of around 1½ miles. It takes place on the second of a two-day Betfred Derby Festival, which in 2025 will run from Friday 6 June to Saturday 7 June.
Those who enjoy betting on horse racing love the Betfred Derby Festival for a number of reasons. First, the racing itself is of the highest quality, with The Oaks also being a big feature race here. Then there’s the famous festival atmosphere, which is second only to Royal Ascot for its pageantry and style. Epsom Derby betting offers are also a big draw, so let’s look at those now.
Bookmakers always like to make betting offers available for big events, and the Epsom Derby is certainly that. The promotions that run for the Derby are similar to those you’d get for the Grand National or during the Cheltenham Festival, but usually with an Epsom-specific slant. Here are the types of Epsom Derby betting offers that tend to be most popular.
Free bets are a great way for bookies to attract new customers and/or retain the loyalty of existing ones. Epsom Derby free bets always have a few strings attached, so you will normally need to qualify for them by making a bet at certain minimum odds (or bigger) with your own cash. Even so, a free bet is a free bet, so we aren’t complaining one bit!
Some betting sites will also offer free bets as a consolation if your own bet loses under certain specified conditions. For example, you might get your money back if your selection finishes second to the SP favourite.
As well as being the official sponsor of the Derby, Betfred is a bookmaker with a great reputation for offering free bets. It will also have plenty of other offers that will come in handy during the festival, so pay a visit to the site to see what’s available.
All of the best online bookmakers in the UK will let you bet on the Epsom Derby long before the day of the race. This makes it possible for you to plan your betting ahead of time. You are also likely (although never guaranteed) to get better odds by betting in advance that you will on the day itself. That’s because the form and health of your selection could change between you striking your bet and the start of the festival.
As we explain more thoroughly in our Ante Post Betting guide, the main downside of betting days or weeks in advance of any race is that you can lose your stake if your horse doesn’t run. However, betting sites have also come up with an offer that can negate that risk, which we’ll discuss in a few moments.
For now, if you want to visit a site that already has ante-post betting available, head to Paddy Power. There you’ll find both Epsom Derby prices and odds for the Epsom Oaks.
The idea of betting days or weeks before a race is due to take place and potentially losing your stake if your horse doesn’t run isn’t very appealing. And that’s why many bookies will often make a Non-Runner No Bet (NRNB) offer available on certain festival races.
When you make Derby bets with this offer, your stake will be refunded if your horse doesn’t run. That means you won’t lose out, and you’ll be able to use the same cash to bet on a different runner or in a completely different race if you’d prefer to do that. LiveScore Bet is one of our favourite Epsom Derby bookies for this kind of offer. Other Epsom Derby betting offers are also likely to be available there closer to the time.
Another Epsom Derby online betting offer to look out for during the festival is Extra Places. This will, as its name suggests, pay out for extra places on each-way bets. For example, if you bet each way and would normally get paid for the first three places, an Extra Places offer might pay out for the first four places.
These offers are most common in big handicap races, but that’s entirely at the discretion of each bookmaker. William Hill is one that you can expect to make such Epsom Derby betting offers available, so be sure to pay them a visit during the festival.
The vast majority of bets on the Epsom Derby are made on the day of the race itself. Many people like to bet early in the day so that they don’t get sidetracked by life and forget later. The problem there is that the odds taken in the morning might not be as good as the odds available just before the race gets underway.
The Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) offer is one that is specifically designed to be of use to those who like to bet early. It guarantees that your bet will always be settled at the best odds, whether those are the ones you originally took when striking your bet or the Starting Price.
BetVictor is one of the best Epsom Derby betting sites around for this type of deal. It offers Best Odds Guaranteed on all UK and Irish races from 9 am each day.
We all know that it’s important to get the best odds possible when sports betting (see our Value Betting guide for an explanation of why), so Enhanced Odds offers are always welcome. These will give you bigger Epsom Derby prices than usual, which means you’ll get more profit if your selection wins.
You can expect to find Enhanced Odds at quite a few betting sites during the Epsom Derby Festival. One place that is always worth checking out for this type of offer is Bet365.
Many bettors like to select horses in several of the races at the Epsom Derby Festival and put them in a Lucky 15, 31 or 63 multiple bet. These cover you for singles, doubles, trebles and accumulators, and they can pay off handsomely when they succeed. A Lucky Boost offer makes them even more attractive by inflating the potential payout by a certain percentage.
If you want to make a Lucky 15 or similar multiple bet at the festival, you’d do well to look for these Epsom Derby betting offers. Fitzdares is currently boosting them by up to 25%. It is also doubling the odds of your win single if only one of your selections wins.
We now get to the most generous of all Epsom Derby betting offers, and those are welcome offers. All bookmakers have a welcome offer of some sort to attract new customers, but they can be especially valuable during big meetings.
Spreadex is a betting site that will give you £50 in bonuses when you sign up and bet £25. The bet bundle currently includes a number of fixed odds bets, plus Winning Favourites spread bets, and Race Index spread bets. Free bets are valid for 28 days, so you can sign up a week or two before the Epsom Derby and use them during the festival.
Make the most of the best Epsom Derby betting offers that will be available for the festival, and you should have plenty of free bets to put to good use. Here are the main types of bets you’ll want to consider making when betting on the Derby and other festival races. See How to Bet on Horses if you’re completely new to the topic.
Betting on the Epsom Derby doesn’t get any more straightforward than this. All you have to do is pick a horse that you think has the best chance of winning. If your horse wins, so will your bet. The amount of money that you get back from your derby bets in this market will depend on the odds and the size of your stake. Multiply one by the other to work out your returns, or use our free Horse Bet Calculator to do it for you in a matter of seconds.
With this type of bet, you pick a horse that you think will finish the race in a placed position. Without Extra Places, this is normally first, second or third. The each-way bet comprises two bets: a win-only bet and a place-only bet. A £5 each-way bet would therefore cost £10 in total.
If your horse wins the race, both the win-only and the place-only parts of the bet will win. If your horse fails to win but finishes in second or third place, the place-only part will win. And if your horse doesn’t make the frame at all, both parts of the bet will lose. (See What is an Each Way Bet? for more info.)
The place-only part of the each-way bet is settled at a fraction of the win odds. Take a look at our Each Way Bet Calculator page to work out your returns or see how to do it manually.
Want more of a challenge? Then consider picking two horses to finish in first and second place and make a Straight Forecast bet. Your bet will win if your two horses pass the post in the order you predicted. A Reverse Forecast is an alternative that costs two bets and will pay out if your two horses finish first or second, regardless of their order.
A Tricast bet involves picking three runners to finish in first, second, and third place. Again, your selections must pass the post in the correct order for the bet to succeed. An alternative wager is a Combination Tricast that costs six bets and covers your horses to finish in any order.
This type of bet gives you a chance of landing a big payout from a modest stake. Here you try to predict the winner in several different races, and if all of your horses succeed, the bet wins. To calculate your return, multiply the odds of each horse together and then multiply by your stake.
You can also place an each-way accumulator bet on Derby races. This will give you a return if all of your horses get a place. Use our Accumulator Bet Calculator to figure out how much you can expect back if your bet succeeds.
As mentioned earlier, multiple bets are ones that cover selections in several different races for doubles, trebles and accumulators. For example, a Lucky 15 covers four selections in 15 bets for four singles, six doubles, four trebles and one accumulator. The more of your selections that succeed, the bigger your payout will be. Our Lucky 15 Bet Calculator will do the math for you.
Whether you’re using Epsom Derby free bets or your own cash, you’ll want to give yourself the best possible chance of winning at the festival. Here are a few Epsom Derby betting tips that we think should prove useful to you:
The 2024 Betfred Derby Festival takes place on Friday, 6th and Saturday, 7th of June. There are seven races scheduled for the first day and eight for the second day. The full schedule (which may change) of races is as follows:
Day 1: Ladies Day – Friday 6th June |
|
14:00 | British EBF Woodcote Stakes |
14:35 | Trustatrader Handicap Stakes |
15:10 | Coronation Cup |
15:45 | Betfred Handicap Stakes |
16:30 | Betfred Oaks |
17:10 | Surrey Stakes |
17:40 | Lonsdale Handicap Stakes |
Day 2: Derby Day – Saturday 7th June |
|
13:25 | Lester Piggott Handicap Stakes |
14:00 | Princess Elizabeth Stakes |
14:35 | Betfred Diomed Stakes |
15:10 | Befred 3 Year Old ‘Dash’ Handicap Stakes |
15:45 | Aston Martin ‘Dash’ Handicap Stakes |
16:30 | Betfred Derby |
17:15 | Northern Dancer Handicap Stakes |
17:50 | JRA Tokyo Trophy Handicap Stakes |
There are just two horse races that must be broadcast on free-to-air TV channels in the UK by law. (You can see the full list of protected sporting events here.) Those are the Grand National and the Epsom Derby. That means you’ll be able to watch the race live on any TV with no special sports channel subscription being needed.
You will also be able to watch the race via live streaming at all of our recommended sports betting sites. Some of them will even have separate audio commentary available for those who are unable to watch the live stream. Note that some betting sites might require you to have made Derby bets with them to access their video and/or audio streams.
The table below shows what streaming media coverage you can expect from our featured sites.
Epsom Derby Betting Site | Live Video Streaming | Live Audio Commentary |
Bet365 | ✅ | ✅ |
William Hill | ✅ | ✅ |
Paddy Power | ✅ | ✅ |
Betfred | ✅ | ✅ |
BoyleSports | ✅ | ✅ |
QuinnBet | ✅ | ❌ |
Spreadex | ✅ | ❌ |
Virgin Bet | ✅ | ❌ |
LiveScore Bet | ✅ | ❌ |
CopyBet | ❌ | ❌ |
The list of Epsom Derby winners reads like a Who’s Who of thoroughbreds. It includes names like Shergar, Reference Point, Commander in Chief and Authorized. The table below shows all of the winners since 2010, along with their respective jockeys and trainers and their returning SPs in the Derby betting.
Epsom Derby Winners – 2010 to Present |
||||
Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
2023 | City of Troy | Ryan Moore | Aidan O’Brien | 3/1 |
2024 | Auguste Rodin | Ryan Moore | Aidan O’Brien | 9/2 |
2022 | Desert Crown | Richard Kingscote | Sir Michael Stoute | 5/2F |
2021 | Adayar | Adam Kirby | Charlie Appleby | 16/1 |
2020 | Serpentine | Emmet McNamara | Aidan O’Brien | 25/1 |
2019 | Anthony Van Dyck | Seamie Heffernan | Aidan O’Brien | 13/2 |
2018 | Masar | William Buick | Charlie Appleby | 16/1 |
2017 | Wings of Eagles | Padraig Beggy | Aidan O’Brien | 40/1 |
2016 | Harzand | Pat Smullen | Dermot Weld | 13/2 |
2015 | Golden Horn | Frankie Dettori | John Gosden | 13/8F |
2014 | Australia | Joseph O’Brien | Aidan O’Brien | 11/8 |
2013 | Ruler of the World | Ryan Moore | Aidan O’Brien | 7/1 |
2012 | Camelot | Joseph O’Brien | Aidan O’Brien | 8/13F |
2011 | Pour Moi | Mickael Barzalona | André Fabre | 4/1 |
2010 | Workforce | Ryan Moore | Sir Michael Stoute | 6/1 |
The Betfred Epsom Derby is the best-loved flat race in the UK. In fact, it’s so good that it was the inspiration behind the creation of the Kentucky Derby in the US. Make use of the Epsom Derby free betting offers and other Derby betting deals we’ve outlined today, and you could land a winning wager or two at the bookies’ expense. Good luck, and enjoy the racing!