3 minute read

Aidan O’Brien claimed his eleventh Epsom Oaks courtesy of a gutsy success from Minnie Hauk.

All eyes were on the unbeaten 1000 Guineas heroine Desert Flower as she bid to take the step up to a mile and a half in her stride, but the writing was on the walls for the backers of the Charlie Appleby-trained 11/10 market leader, who was struggling to get terms with both Whirl and Minnie Hauk as the field turned for home.

Aidan O'Brien's duo soon set down to fight it out moving passing the two-furlong marker, with Musidora winner Whirl still holding sway from her Cheshire Oaks scoring stablemate.

However, just as Ryan Moore did on Jan Brueghel earlier on the card, he galvanized Minnie Hauk to the head of affairs close home, with the 9/2 chance eventually prevailing by a neck to complete a Group 1 double on the card for both trainer and jockey.

To her credit, Desert Flower stuck to the task well and battled on bravely to finish back in third.

"I've been delighted with this filly, she's got a great team around her and I'm so grateful to everybody," said O'Brien.

"She's a very classy filly. She was just ready to run at Chester, she barely made it, but she made abnormal improvement from Chester, which we thought she might – it was all class rather than stamina or fitness, she just has a lot of class.

"Ryan gave her a beautiful ride; he loved her the last day and he loved her again today so it's very exciting.

"I'd say she's still a bit green. Obviously at Chester she learned a lot, but she was always going to improve with racing."

He added: "What you love about her is she's a great traveller with a lot of class, Ryan said he was going very easy early on, so usually that means she can step up a couple of grades into even higher-class races – she could take on the boys if the lads decide it. I'm delighted for them to have another filly like this."

On future plans, O'Brien admitted all the top-class mile-and-a-half contests would come under consideration, including the Qatar Prix l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on October 5th, for which she was installed as a 16/1 chance by Paddy Power.

He said: "I'd say there's every possibility this filly will be an Arc filly because she can go a stronger tempo than she did today.

"That's if she stays well and keeps progressing but it's definitely a possibility for her. She's a classy filly who showed abnormal improvement from Chester to here.

"She was a middle-distance filly that was working with a Guineas filly, so when that happens it's a little bit different."

"The Irish Oaks is always close to our hearts and then there's the Yorkshire Oaks and the French trials and all those races are open to her before the Arc, but I think she's very classy and I think she's only going to improve."

Whilst Minnie Hauk stole the headlines, becoming Aidan O'Brien's eleventh Oaks winner, the Ballydoyle handler was also full of admiration for the Wayne Lordan-ridden runner-up Whirl.

"Whirl ran a great race, she stays, she's by Wootton Bassett and it is very unusual what they are doing, they are speed horses, but a lot are staying as well," explained O'Brien.

"She was fighting back again at the line, that's incredible really."