Musidora Stakes

The Musidora Stakes is a Group 3 race for three-year-old fillies over a mile and a quarter.

It is held on the opening day of the York Dante meeting in May and is an essential trial for the Epsom Oaks.

Seven fillies have gone on to win the Epsom Classic, including Diminuendo (1988), Reams Of Verse (1997) and Snowfall (2021).

Find out more about the Musidora Stakes:

Musidora Stakes Previous Winners

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer
2013	Liber Nauticus	Ryan Moore	Sir Michael Stoute
2014	Madame Chiang	Kieren Fallon	David Simcock
2015	Star of Seville	Frankie Dettori	John Gosden
2016	So Mi Dar	Frankie Dettori	John Gosden
2017	Shutter Speed	Frankie Dettori	John Gosden
2018	Give And Take	James Doyle	William Haggas
2019	Nausha	Andrea Atzeni	Roger Varian
2020	Rose of Kildare[a]	Franny Norton	Mark Johnston
2021	Snowfall	Ryan Moore	Aidan O’Brien
2022	Emily Upjohn	Frankie Dettori	John & Thady Gosden
2023	Soul Sister	Frankie Dettori	John & Thady Gosden
2024	Secret Satire	Oisin Murphy	Andrew Balding
2025	Whirl	Ryan Moore	Aidan O’Brien
2026	Legacy Link	Colin Keane	John & Thady Gosden

Famous Musidora Stakes Winners

The Musidora Stakes is named after the Yorkshire-trained winner of the 1000 Guineas and Epsom Oaks in 1949. The race was first run in 1961, with victory going to Ambergris, trained by Harry Wragg and ridden by Lester Piggott. It was awarded Group 3 status in 197,1 which it has held ever since.

Noblesse (1963) was the first filly to go on to complete the Musidora/Oaks double, trained by Paddy Prendergast.

Bireme repeated the feat in 1980 for Dick Hern and Willie Carson.

1981 winner Condessa was trained by Jim Bolger and returned to York to claim the Yorkshire Oaks later in the season. Bolger won the race again in 1983 with Give Thanks, later successful in the Lancashire Oaks and the Irish Oaks.

Henry Cecil had a fantastic record in this race. He won it for three consecutive seasons with the high-class trio Indian Skimmer (1987), Diminuendo (1988) and Snow Bride (1989). Indian Skimmer was a brilliant grey filly who went on to claim career earnings in excess of nearly $1.4 million. Her career victories included the French Oaks (1987), Sun Chariot Stakes (1988), Champion Stakes (1988) and Irish Champion Stakes (1988).

Diminuendo was a small chestnut filly who won the Epsom Oaks, Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks in 1988. Snow Bride was awarded the Epsom Oaks in 1989 after the controversial disqualification of The Aga Khan’s Aliysa. The winner tested positive for a banned substance, and her disqualification led to a significant rift between His Highness and the British Racing Authorities.

1990 winner In The Groove was a very talented filly trained by David Elsworth and regularly partnered by Steve Cauthen. She won the Irish 1000 Guineas, the International Stakes and the Champion Stakes after winning here. She then won the Coronation Cup at Epsom in 1991.

Sariska (2009) went on to win the Oaks for Michael Bell and Jamie Spence,r while the most recent Epsom Classic winner was Snowfall in 2021. A surprise 14-1 winner of this race for Aidan O’Brien, she went on to win the Oaks by a remarkable 16 lengths as her rivals fell away in the rain-softened ground.

Key Musidora Stakes Trials

There are no obvious trials for the Musidora, with fillies often running here on their seasonal debut or after winning a maiden.

Eight of the last eleven winners had raced within 26 days, and four of those had won last time out.

Seven of the last eleven winners ran in the Epsom Oaks next time, with only Snowfall winning the Classic.

John Gosden’s The Fugue (third) and Emily Upjohn (second) ran well at Epsom after winning the Musidora, and both were arguably unlucky not to win.

Gosden also trained So Mi Dar (2016), who won the John Musker Fillies Stakes at Yarmouth next time.

Musidora Stakes Betting Trends

There have been five winning favourites in the last eleven renewals of the Musidora Stakes.

Liber Nauticus (2013), Star Of Seville (2015), So Mi Dar (2016), Shutter Speed (2017) and Emily Upjohn (2022) were the successful market leaders, and all started odds-on. The last four named were all trained at the Gosden stable.

There have been a couple of surprise winners of this race in recent years. Nausha (2019) won at 14-1 for Roger Varian and Andrea Atzeni.

Snowfall (2021) also returned at 14-1 while Madame Chang (2014) won at 8-1 for David Simcock and Kieren Fallon.

Musidora Stakes – Top Trainers and Jockeys

Henry Cecil won this race a record nine times: Fatah Flare (1985), Indian Skimmer (1987), Diminuendo (1988), Snow Bride (1989), All At Sea (1992), Magnificent Style (1996), Reams Of Verse (1997), Passage Of Time (2007) and Aviate (2010).

Sir Michael Stoute is currently just one behind Cecil with eight victories: Triple First (1977), Rimosa’s Pet (1979), Optimistic Lass (1984), Hawajiss (1994), Pure Grain (1995), Islington (2002), Short Skirt (2006) and Liber Nauticus (2013).

The Gosden stable has the best recent record in the Musidora with six winners in the past twelve seasons: Joviality (2011), The Fugue (2012), Star Of Seville (2015), So Mi Dar (2016), Shutter Speed (2017) and Emily Upjohn (2022).

Frankie Dettori leads the jockey standings with six victories: Bahr (1998), Punctilious (2004), Star Of Seville (2015), So Mi Dar (2016), Shutter Speed (2017) and Emily Upjohn (2022).

Betting on the Musidora Stakes

The Musidora Stakes always has an impact on the ante-post betting for the Epsom Oaks.

Surprisingly, the brilliant Snowfall is the only winner trained by Aidan O’Brien, and it has been the Gosden entries who have dominated in recent years.

A fascinating trial for the leading middle-distance fillies’ Classic and Group 1 races later in the summer.

Summary of Musidora Stakes

Thank you for reading our Musidora Stakes guide.

We have looked at previous winners, tips, odds, and history of this top-class race, which has produced some memorable performances and horses over the years.

If you are looking to wager any bets on the York May Festival, we strongly recommend checking out our list of best Dante Festival Free Bets promotions on offer to new customers in July 2026.

Check out our guides to all the other Group 3 horse races.