2025 Guineas Festival Betting Odds

2025 Betfred Guineas Festival Betting Odds

We’re getting closer to the 2025 Betfred Guineas Festival where customers will be able to bet on three days of high-quality action at Newmarket Racecourse. The action starts on Friday 2 May, with the first race due off at 1.50pm where the Maiden Stakes takes place, while there are a further six races on the cards.

These include the Newmarket Stakes, Betfred Handicap Stakes, Betfred King Charles II Stakes, Betfred Jockey Club Stakes, Handicap Stakes and Fillies Handicap Stakes. Then we move on to another card packed with quality races on Saturday 3 May, with the 2000 Guineas race seeing the best horses battling it out in the Betfred-sponsored race.

It's a one-mile encounter which will attract some star names, with The Lion In Winter, Shadow Of Light and Opera Ballo among the early front runners, with this being a historic race that comes after encounters such as the Betfred Heritage Handicap Stakes, Betfred Suffolk Stakes and Hong Kong Jockey Club Palace Stakes.

On Day Three, there’s the chance to wager on the 1000 Guineas where some talented fillies are set to line up and this comes fourth on the racecard, with six other encounters taking pride of place. Desert Flower and Lake Victoria look set to be among the favourites and it’s these horses forming an orderly queue at the head of the market.

Day One – Friday 2 May

The first chance to bet on the races at the 2025 Betfred Guineas Festival is on Thursday 3 April where there is a card of seven different encounters to enjoy. The races will all take place on the Rowley Mile course, with the first two races taking place over one mile and two furlongs in the form of the Maiden Stakes and Newmarket Stakes.

Then we have two seven-furlong encounters which take pride of place on the racecard, with the Betfred Handicap Stakes and Betfred King Charles II Stakes being interesting betting races and there will be the chance to enjoy price boosts on the action. The bookies will also be offering best odds guaranteed, extra places and live streaming of the races.

Day Two – Saturday 3 May

It’s 2000 Guineas Day on Friday 4 April and the chance to wager on the first classic of the flat racing season. Coroebus, Chaldean and Notable Speech are among the recent winners of this one-mile encounter and it will be interesting to see how the betting market shapes up as we get closer to the action.

Aidan O’Brien has landed ten wins in the 2000 Guineas and he enjoyed a consecutive hat-trick of successes with Churchill, Saxon Warrior and Magna Grecia between 2017 and 2019, although the legendary Irish handler hasn’t had a winner in this race so far. Perhaps this will come in the form of The Lion In Winter.

The three-year-old could have a number of Godolphin horses for competition. Shadow Of Light has had a promising time of things as a two-year-old and a spate of wins for trainer Charlie Appleby, with Opera Ballo also from that stable and with solid credentials at the time of writing.

Ruling Court is another potential contender and it will be interesting to see how the horses perform on their seasonal debut, with O’Brien having a couple more exciting runners in the form of Expanded and Twain.

On the same racecard, we have the Jockey Club Stakes which has been in operation since 1894, with the Palace House Stakes being a Group 3 encounter over five furlongs where we’ve seen Vadream and Seven Questions oblige in the past couple of years.

Day Three – Sunday 4 May

We have three significant encounters on the final day of the 2025 Betfred Guineas Festival, with the biggest of these being the 1000 Guineas race. Cachet, Mawj and Elmalka are recent winners of a race where the winner is awarded £300,000 and there’s usually a big field battling it out over the distance of one mile on the Sunday of the meeting.

Desert Flower was exemplary as a two-year-old and the Godolphin horse could be the one to beat, with Charlie Appleby saddling the filly to a succession of wins and the same handler has Verse Of Love lining up in the race. However, Aidan O’Brien is no stranger to success and he’s had an excellent strike rate in recent years.

The Irishman triumphed in three consecutive years between 2019-2021, with Hermosa, Love and Mother Earth having obliged for O’Brien, although he will now hope to return to the winners’ enclosure with Lake Victoria. The horse is trading among the favourites and there were some bright displays as a two-year-old.

The action starts with the Pretty Polly Stakes over one mile and two furlongs, with With The Moonlight, Running Lion and Friendly Soul having scored in the past few years and the latter two were trained by John & Thady Gosden. That encounter is followed by the Betfred Dahlia Stakes over one mile and one furlong. The past few races have been won by a succession of five-year-olds.

Guineas Festival Betting Strategy

When it comes to betting on the Guineas Festival there are various approaches punters can undertake in an attempt to make a profit. The simplest way to obtain value is by getting the best odds and our racing odds comparison makes that a quick and easy process.

Of course, before you get the best odds, you’ll need to know what to back. There are no real overarching strategies that can be applied to all races other than a point or two about the Rowley Mile itself.

Draw bias can change due to the fact that the wide course allows the racing authorities to move the rails quite regularly in order to avoid excessive wear to one part of the track. As such, paying attention to races early on in the meeting may prove fruitful if you are able to spot what you think is a favourable draw.

The other point about the track is that it may be worth favouring horses with a little extra stamina due to the incline towards the finish. This can catch out pure speedballs who may go off too fast and struggle to see the race out.

When it comes to the big two races, as we have seen, in recent years the 2000 Guineas has been a little more predictable than the 1000 Guineas. Course form for all races at Newmarket is worth paying attention to and that is definitely the case for the two Classics. This is largely due to Newmarket’s famous dip and also the uphill stretch that follows to the post.

Following Aidan O’Brien is also worth considering, although the odds of his charges usually reflect his brilliance as a trainer. The Ballydoyle maestro has landed the 1000 Guineas three times since 2012 (as of 2018) and the 2000 Guineas an even more impressive seven times since 2005. With that sort of strike rate, you can be sure that a bet on something O’Brien sends to post might well beat the odds.

Festival History

One can’t really say when the Guineas Festival was truly born but, as said, the two key races that bring it all together date back to the start of the 19th century. Amazingly racing in this area, under royal patronage, dates back to the mid-17th century but the 2000 Guineas was first run in 1809 with the 1000 following in 1814.

These were created following the success of the Epsom Derby and along with that, the Epsom Oaks and oldest of the lot, the St Leger, these five races form the British Classics. These five had coalesced by the late 1800s and the weekend of the two Guineas contests really is a huge feature on the flat racing calendar.

In theory the races are the first leg of the Colts and Fillies Triple Crowns respectively, but virtually no horses even attempt to land this, alongside the Derby/Oaks and St Leger these days. Since 2001 the two Guineas contests have offered equal prize money and with £500,000 and immeasurable prestige up for grabs it is no wonder the Guineas Festival continues to grow as a betting and racing extravaganza.