The Basics: How to Bet the Kentucky Derby
From left to right: Fantasy Stakes winner Counting Stars, Ashland Stakes winner Percy’s Bar, and Santa Anita Oaks winner Meaning are among the top contenders for the 2026 Kentucky Oaks May 1 at Churchill Downs. (Coady Media/Coady Media/Eclipse Sportswire)
The Longines Kentucky Oaks has evolved into the most important North American race restricted to 3-year-old fillies, and the 1 1/8-mile dirt race will be the marquee event on Friday, May 1, at Churchill Downs.
Bet the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET!
Like the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, the Oaks has been held annually since 1875 with standout winners in the past half-century such as Davona Dale, Bold ‘n Determined, Princess Rooney, Open Mind, Silverbulletday, Ashado, Rags to Riches, Rachel Alexandra, Blind Luck, Untapable, Monomoy Girl, Malathaat, and Thorpedo Anna.
The 152nd Kentucky Oaks will be broadcast live by NBC Sports on NBC with a scheduled post time of 8:40 p.m. ET. The race also will be streamed live on Peacock and air on FanDuel TV.
Read on for more information on the contenders for this year’s Kentucky Oaks. The prospective runners appear in order by the points accrued toward qualifying for the race. The Cheat Sheet will be updated with post positions and morning-line odds once available.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Juan Hernandez
Trainer: Michael McCarthy
Owners: Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners
Career record: 4 starts – 3 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $307,000
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 95
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 126
Pedigree: Gun Runner – Figure of Speech, by Into Mischief
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker
Analysis: Her lone career defeat came when a troubled fourth in the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in her second career start. In two races as a 3-year-old in 2026, Meaning pulled away to a 1 ½-length win in the Las Virgenes Stakes in February and proved much the best in the Santa Anita Oaks Presented by Surfside, winning by two lengths as the odds-on favorite. She has good tactical speed that should allow her to get good early position and is bred to handle 1 1/8 miles. Meaning is a top contender for the Kentucky Oaks and should be among the favorites.
New to horse racing? Let us explain…
Odds-on favorites are horses that are bet at odds less than even money by the time the wagering pools closed. This means that if you were to bet $2 on a horse that goes off at 2-5 odds, you would receive $2.80 back – two-fifths of each dollar wagered plus your $2 investment.
Bet Meaning in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Luan Machado
Trainer: Ben Colebrook
Owner: Hat Creek Racing
Career record: 6 starts – 3 wins – 2 seconds – 1 third
Career earnings: $1,015,121
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 96
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 114
Pedigree: Upstart – Honestly Deb, by Super Saver
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker
Analysis: Named after beloved longtime Churchill Downs and Keeneland bartender Percy Pool, who passed away in February 2024, Percy’s Bar surely will be a popular sentimental pick among Churchill patrons. But the Upstart filly is much more than a heart-warming story, she’s all racehorse. Percy’s Bar was unlucky not to be a Grade 1 winner in 2025 when disqualified after finishing first in the Darley Alcibiades Stakes in October at Keeneland before a troubled third-place finish in the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. In her 3-year-old debut off a five-month layoff, Percy Bar nailed down the elusive Grade 1 in dominating fashion with a 2 ¼-length victory in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes April 3 at Keeneland. Percy’s Bar is versatile enough to press, stalk, or close from off the pace in races, and the grit she’s displayed in her races makes her a top win candidate.
Bet Percy's Bar in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione
Trainer: Brendan Walsh
Owner: Godolphin
Career record: 4 starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $561,525
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 91
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 110
Pedigree: Street Sense – Pretty City Dancer, by Tapit
Color: Bay
Running style: Press the pace/stalker
Analysis: A Godolphin homebred half-sister (same dam [mother], different sire [father]) to 2023 Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous, Bella Ballerina began her career with three straight wins, including a stakes win at Churchill Downs at age 2 and a season-opening victory in the Fasig-Tipton Rachel Alexandra Stakes Feb. 14 at Fair Grounds. She enters off a distant second to Life of Joy as the even-money favorite in the Fasig-Tipton Fair Grounds Oaks and must improve on that effort to win the Kentucky Oaks. Bella Ballerina is bred to be a star, but she has not yet run as fast as several top Oaks entrants. Owner-breeder Godolphin, trainer Brendan Walsh, and jockey Tyler Gaffalione teamed to win the Oaks in 2023 with Pretty Mischievous. Godolphin also won the race last year with Good Cheer.
Bet Bella Ballerina in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Francisco Arrieta
Trainer: Mark Casse
Owner: West Point Thoroughbreds
Career record: 7 starts – 4 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $972,606
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 99
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 100
Pedigree: Honor A.P. – Paynterbynumbers, by Paynter
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker/press the pace
Analysis: Progress with racehorses is rarely linear and Counting Stars is a prime example. After a dominant debut win, she ran a well-beaten fifth in her stakes debut last October at Keeneland. She closed out her 2-year-old season with back-to-back dominant stakes wins at Oaklawn Park but stopped and was distanced (beaten by more than 60 lengths) in her first start at age 3 in the Martha Washington Stakes. The bay Honor A. P. filly is back in top form, however, recording a runner-up finish in the $750,000 Honeybee Stakes March 1 and a 5 ½-length runaway victory March 27 in the $1 million Fantasy Stakes, both at Oaklawn. Counting Stars completed her final quarter-mile in :24.62 and earned a 99 Equibase Speed Figure for the Fantasy, just one point off the best figure in the Oaks field. She profiles as a viable contender to win the Oaks with a top effort.
Bet Counting Stars in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Javier Castellano
Trainer: Brad Cox
Owners: Gary and Mary West
Career record: 3 starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $206,980
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 94
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 100
Pedigree: Quality Road – Miss Bling Bling, by Tapit
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker
Analysis: Lightly raced Prom Queen made a memorable stakes debut in her third career start March 28 in the Gulfstream Park Oaks Presented by City National Bank. The bay Quality Road filly shook free in the stretch to win by 2 ¾ lengths under Javier Castellano, improving her top Equibase Speed Figure 11 points to a 94. Unraced at age 2, Prom Queen was second in her debut Jan. 23 going one mile before winning a 1 1/16-mile maiden race by eight lengths on Feb. 21, both at Gulfstream Park. Prom Queen will make her first start away from Gulfstream in the Kentucky Oaks against the best competition she has faced in her career. She has room to improve in her fourth start for three-time Kentucky Oaks-winning trainer Brad Cox and very likely must do just that to have a shot at a victory. Jockey Javier Castellano won this race in 2016 aboard Cathryn Sophia.
Bet Prom Queen in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Dylan Davis
Trainer: Chad Brown
Owners: Douglas Scharbauer and Three Chimneys Farm
Career record: 2 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $129,200
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 94
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 100
Pedigree: Gun Runner – Always Carina, by Malibu Moon
Color: Dark bay or brown
Running style: Stalker
Analysis: A well-bred Gun Runner filly who was a seven-figure purchase at auction as a yearling, Always a Runner enters the Kentucky Oaks unbeaten in two starts after acing her first class test in the $200,000 Gazelle Stakes April 4 at Aqueduct. Always a Runner delivered a professional win from off the pace and completed the final furlong in an encouraging :12.56 to prevail by 1 ¼ lengths at the same 1 1/8-mile distance as the Kentucky Oaks. She has the least experience of any of the Kentucky Oaks contenders but also perhaps the highest upside. Even a small step forward would make Always a Runner a serious player in the Oaks.
Bet Always a Runner in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Flavien Prat
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Owners: Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman
Career record: 7 starts – 4 wins – 3 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $1,053,000
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 100
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 95
Pedigree: Blame – Collections Choice, by Bernardini
Color: Dark bay or brown
Running style: Press the pace
Analysis: Consistency is the hallmark of Explora, who has three stakes wins on her résumé and has never finished outside the top two in seven races. The Blame filly has been favored in each of her seven races — although she probably will not be the top betting choice in the Kentucky Oaks — and owns the best career-top Equibase Speed Figure (100) in the field. She enters the off a three-quarter-length victory in the $750,000 Honeybee Stakes March 1 at Oaklawn Park and should be well-rested for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, a three-time Kentucky Oaks winner. Fellow Southern California-based invader Meaning beat Explora by 1 ½ lengths in the Las Virgenes Stakes in February, so she’ll need to turn the tables on her familiar foe, but she’s always in the hunt in deep stretch.
Bet Explora in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Owner: Repole Stable
Career record: 4 starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $369,625
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 93
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 80
Pedigree: American Pharoah – Mo’ Green, by Uncle Mo
Color: Chestnut
Running style: Stalker/press the pace
Analysis: Zany began her career with three straight dominant wins, including an 8 ½-length romp at the same 1 1/8-mile distance as the Kentucky Oaks in the $250,000 Demoiselle Stakes in December at Aqueduct and a season-debut win by 2 ¾ lengths in the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. The American Pharoah filly lost for the first time as the odds-on favorite April 3 in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes, in which she was outfinished by 2 ¾ lengths by winner Percy’s Bar. Zany earned a new career-best Equibase Speed Figure in the Ashland and owns a win at the Oaks distance. She’ll face an even better group of fillies in the Kentucky Oaks and must improve to have a shot at a victory for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who has won the Kentucky Oaks four times, most recently with Malathaat in 2021.
Bet Zany in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: TBD
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Owner: Calumet Farm
Career record: 3 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 1 third
Career earnings: $186,820
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 89
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 75
Pedigree: Lexitonian – Seattle Smooth, by Quiet American
Color: Chestnut
Running style: Closer
Analysis: She Be Smooth is a homebred of Calumet Farm, the all-time leading Kentucky Oaks owner with six previous winners (most recently Davona Dale in 1979), trained by four-time Kentucky Oaks-winning trainer Todd Pletcher, whose most recent win came with Malathaat in 2021. Produced by Grade 1 winner Seattle Smooth, She Be Smooth showed class from the outset with a pair of facile victories to begin her career. She followed a debut win in January at Gulfstream Park with a six-length score in the $225,000 Davona Dale Stakes Presented by Inglis Digital USA Feb. 28 at the Florida track. The overwhelming 4-5 favorite in the March 28 in the Gulfstream Park Oaks Presented by City National Bank, She Be Smooth never threatened winner Prom Queen while beaten by 6 ½ lengths in a third-place finish in her final Kentucky Oaks prep race. She Be Smooth is a candidate to improve in her fourth career start but probably would need to boost her Equibase Speed Figure by about 10 points to have a shot at a victory.
Bet She Be Smooth in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Coglianese Photos/Lauren King
Jockey: TBD
Trainer: Saffie Joseph Jr.
Owners: Averill Racing, Mathis Stable, and Tristan De Meric
Career record: 5 starts – 1 win – 3 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $148,030
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 90
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 75
Pedigree: Uncle Mo – In a Dream, by Quality Road
Color: Bay
Running style: Press the pace/stalker
Analysis: My Miss Mo was a dominant 12-length winner in a maiden special weight race Nov. 9, 2025 at Gulfstream Park, a runaway victory that gave trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. the confidence to test the Uncle Mo Filly against stakes competition. While she is winless in three stakes starts, her two most recent races have been encouraging. She ran second, beaten six lengths by winner She Be Smooth, in the $225,000 Davona Dale Stakes Presented by Inglis Digital USA Feb. 28 at Gulfstream Park before setting the pace March 28 in a runner-up finish to Prom Queen in the Gulfstream Park Oaks Presented by City National Bank. My Miss Mo was 2 ¾ lengths behind Prom Queen in that race and earned a new career-best 90 Equibase Speed Figure. A top-three finish is not out of the question if My Miss Mo can improve in her third start of the year.
Bet My Miss Mo in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Coady Media
Jockey: Cristian Torres
Trainer: Mark Casse
Owner: Tracy Farmer
Career record: 8 starts – 2 wins – 2 seconds – 2 thirds
Career earnings: $516,711
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 96
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 67.5
Pedigree: Gun Runner – Devious Charm, by Into Mischief
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker/closer
Analysis: Search Party is the most experienced filly in the field with eight starts entering the Kentucky Oaks. She needed some time to figure things out, earning her first win by six lengths in her fifth race Dec. 27 at Oaklawn Park for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. Search Party next won her 3-year-old debut by a neck in the $300,000 Martha Washington Stakes at 1 1/16 miles while trying stakes competition for the first time. She earned a career-best 96 Equibase Speed Figure for the win but has regressed slightly since then with an unplaced finish in the Honeybee Stakes and a second in the $1 million Fantasy Stakes, 5 ½ lengths behind winner Counting Stars March 27 at Oaklawn. Based on her last two races, Search Party looks like a longshot to win the Kentucky Oaks, but with six top-three finishes she’s a strong candidate to fill out the trifecta or superfecta at an appealing price.
New to horse racing? Let us explain…
A trifecta or superfecta filler: We’re suggesting that you might want to add the horse to your bet if you’re playing an trifecta (picking the first three finishers) or a superfecta (first four finishers), and using this horse in the third and/or fourth slot but not to win.
Bet Search Party in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Ramon Vasquez
Trainer: Rob Atras
Owner: Red White and Blue Racing
Career record: 6 starts – 1 win – 1 second – 2 thirds
Career earnings: $116,911
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 92
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 63
Pedigree: Constitution – Panthera Onca, by Super Saver
Color: Bay
Running style: Pacesetter/press the pace
Analysis: Since a 10 ¾-length maiden win Nov. 28, 2025, at Fair Grounds, Pashmina has competed exclusively in stakes races and held her own against better opposition without securing another victory. Pashmina ran third in her stakes debut in the Untapable Stakes Dec. 20 at Fair Grounds before finishing 1 ¾ lengths behind winner Taken by the Wind while fourth in the Fasig-Tipton Silverbulletday Stakes Jan. 17 at Fair Grounds. After the Constitution filly was third in the Sunland Park Oaks, trainer Rob Atras shipped her to Aqueduct for the $200,000 Gazelle Stakes April 4. Pashmina set the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Gazelle and held on to finish second while earning a career-top 92 Equibase Speed Figure. Pashmina faces a daunting challenge seeking her first stakes win in the Kentucky Oaks, but her price should be appealing, she gives an honest effort every time, and she enters off the best race of her career.
Bet Pashmina in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Manny Franco
Trainer: Brad Cox
Owners: NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods
Career record: 4 starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 1 third
Career earnings: $198,800
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 92
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 62.5
Pedigree: Gun Runner – Venetian Harbor, by Munnings
Color: Chestnut
Running style: Press the pace/stalker
Analysis: A chestnut filly by top sire Gun Runner out of multiple graded stakes winner Venetian Harbor, Paradise was a $700,000 purchase as a yearling at auction. She dominated by three lengths in her second career start in January at Gulfstream Park and then handled a class test Feb. 28 in the Busher Stakes at Aqueduct, where she surged away in the stretch to win her stakes debut by 3 ¾ lengths. Three-time Kentucky Oaks-winning trainer Brad Cox entered her in the 1 1/8-mile Gazelle Stakes, and she faded late in her first start around two turns while beaten by 10 lengths by Always a Runner in a third-place finish. Paradise should improve in her second try around two turns but she’ll be facing a far tougher field than she competed against in the Gazelle.
Bet Paradise in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: TBD
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Owner: Jill Baffert
Career record: 6 starts – 4 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $577,000
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 94
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 57.5
Pedigree: Vino Rosso – Blues Corner, by Bluegrass Cat
Color: Gray or roan
Running style: Press the pace
Analysis: Bottle of Rouge has won four times in her last five races with the lone blemish in that stretch a sixth-place finish last fall in the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She’s 2-for-2 this year for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who trains the Vino Rosso filly for his wife, Jill. Bottle of Rouge opened her 3-year-old season with a 1 ½-length victory in the $250,000 Sunland Park Oaks, earning a career-top 94 Equibase Speed Figure, and next dominated the $250,000 Virginia Oaks Presented by New Kent County by 4 ¼ lengths March 14 at Colonial Downs. She looks like a strong candidate to improve in her third start of the year with seven weeks of rest, and Bottle of Rogue has the tactical speed to secure good early positioning tucked in just behind the pace. Bob Baffert has won three previous editions of the Kentucky Oaks with Silverbulletday (1999), Plum Pretty (2011), and Abel Tasman (2017).
Bet Bottle of Rouge in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Fernando De La Cruz
Trainer: Mike Maker
Owner: Skychai Racing
Career record: 3 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 1 third
Career earnings: $247,502
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 92
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 50
Pedigree: Nyquist – Marilyn Monroan, by Tapit
Color: Bay
Running style: Press the pace
Analysis: The $300,000 Bourbonette Oaks winner profiles as the wild card in the 2026 Kentucky Oaks should she draw into the field. The bay filly has raced exclusively on the all-weather surface at Turfway Park in three starts and showed a different dimension when stretching out in distance to 1 1/16 miles for the March 21 Bourbonette Oaks. After rallying from off the pace in her first two races sprinting, Lorelei Lee opened a clear early lead while controlling the pace in her stakes debut and fought gamely late to win by three-quarters of a length. She will try dirt for the first time in the Kentucky Oaks and will need to run significantly faster early to set or even press the pace. There’s nothing in her pedigree that would suggest she should not handle the surface change to dirt — by 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist out of a Tapit mare — but this is a massive class test for Lorelei Lee in her fourth start.
Bet Lorelei Lee in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Kazushi Kimura
Trainer: Michael McCarthy
Owners: Sun-Kissed Stable and Bobby Flay
Career record: 4 starts – 1 win – 2 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $96,500
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 93
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 50
Pedigree: Gun Runner – Shenandoah Queen, by Henny Hughes
Color: Chestnut
Running style: Stalker/press the pace
Analysis: The chestnut Gun Runner filly improved significantly when stretching out in distance to a mile in her third start, pressing the pace from second March 1 at Santa Anita Park and pulling away to win by 1 ¼ lengths for her first victory. She next held her own in her first stakes test, finishing second to stablemate Meaning in the $200,000 Santa Anita Oaks Presented by Surfside. Brooklyn Blonde was beaten by two lengths by one of the leading Kentucky Oaks contenders while facing the best competition she has competed against to date, but she could improve coming out of that race in her third start around two turns. She needs multiple defections to get in, but Brooklyn Blonde could be a viable live longshot should she make it into the starting gate.
Bet Brooklyn Blonde in the Kentucky Oaks with 1/ST BET.
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: TBD
Trainer: Brittany Russell
Owners: Respect the Valleys, Medallion Racing, and Madaket Stables
Career record: 6 starts – 4 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $290,525
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 88
Kentucky Oaks qualifying points: 40.75
Pedigree: Girvin – Awesome Dama, by Corinthian
Color: Bay
Running style: Pacesetter
Analysis: Dazzling Dame would need multiple defections to make the 14-horse field for the Kentucky Oaks and does not appear fast enough to win on paper, but there is no denying this is a very talented filly. She won four of her first five races, including three stakes wins at three different tracks headlined by an 11-length romp Jan. 3 in the Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct. Dazzling Dame needs some help getting in after running second by 4 ¼ lengths to Bottle of Rouge in the $250,000 Virginia Oaks Presented by New Kent County March 14 at Colonial Downs. The bay Girvin filly would probably set the pace if she makes it into the Kentucky Oaks field or at least be one of several fillies challenging for the early lead, but it would qualify as a surprise to see her still in the hunt at the finish line.
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