Watch Kentucky Oaks 2024 live stream: Can you watch for free?

The 2024 Kentucky Oaks is set to run today at Churchill Downs. Though it may not be quite as popular as Saturday’s main event, the Oaks is a Grade-1 race and undoubtedly one of the biggest races of the year for the top three-year-old fillies.

You’re just in time, as coverage of all the Oaks Day races is about to start, at 1:00 p.m. ET, and in the United States it will be televised on USA Network. The Kentucky Oaks is set to post at 5:51 p.m. ET.

If you don’t have cable or you can’t get to a TV, there are several ways you can watch a live stream of the 2024 Kentucky Oaks–and all of the Oaks Day races–online for free or cheap.

Is There a Free Kentucky Oaks Live Stream?

With the Oaks Day races being televised on USA Network, that gives us three different options for watching a free live stream: Fubo (“Pro” channel package), YouTube TV (“Base Plan”) and DirecTV Stream (“Entertainment” package or above). All of these live-TV streaming services include USA in their channel plans, and all come with a free trial.

We would start with Fubo, which will give you seven days free compared to just five for YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream. It also carries many sports events in 4K and has the largest channel package, allowing you to take full advantage of your free trial. That said, any three of these are perfectly fine choices for simply watching today’s race without paying anything.

Moreover, all three of these options include NBC (live in most markets), as well, so you’ll also be able to watch Saturday’s Kentucky Derby as part of your free trial.

Watch Kentucky Oaks on Peacock

If we take free trials out of the equation, Peacock becomes far and away the cheapest way to watch a live stream of the Kentucky Oaks. Though it doesn’t come with a free trial, Peacock’s most basic “Premier” plan costs just $6 per month. That’s all you need to watch both the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby.

Additionally, Peacock includes every non-televised Premier League game (including Chelsea vs West Ham and Liverpool vs Spurs on Sunday), other live sports (such as PGA Tour and WWE) and a huge library of on-demand movies and TV shows. So not only will you be able to watch all of the action from Churchill Downs, but it’s a strong long-term value, too.

Watch the Kentucky Oaks Live Stream from Abroad

A virtual private network (VPN) can hide your IP address and allow you to access normally location-restricted content from other countries. As such, you can use a VPN to watch Fubo or Peacock or any of the aforementioned US-only streaming services, even if you’re physically abroad in another country.

There are a lot of good VPN’s out there, and you can check out our lists of both the best VPN services and the best VPN deals. But we would start with NordVPN, which is fast, safe, easy to use and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee to mitigate any risk.