Minnie Hauk Towers Above Irish Oaks Field
Minnie Hauk appears to face a straightforward task against six inferior rivals as she bids to follow up last month’s Epsom Oaks (G1) success in the July 19 Irish Oaks (G1) at the Curragh.
Everything looks set fair for Minnie Hauk, who got the better of a protracted duel with Aidan O’Brien stablemate Whirl last month and is reopposed by Wemightakedlongway , a distant fourth that day.
Minnie Hauk’s form was given a significant boost when Whirl defeated the older filly Kalpana in the June 28 Pretty Polly Stakes (G1), with Wemightakedlongway again taking fourth.
O’Brien said: “This has been the plan for Minnie Hauk and everything has gone well since Epsom. Everyone seems happy with her.”
With Minnie Hauk priced up around 1-4, she seems well on course to go off the shortest-priced favorite since the last dual Oaks winner Snowfall , who had 8 1/2 lengths to spare when bolting up in 2021 for O’Brien.
Perhaps the main talking point is what comes next for the daughter of Frankel . Minnie Hauk is a best-priced 14-1 favorite for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1) and this race will go a long way towards identifying whether she is in the same league as the likes of Enable , winner of the Oaks, Irish Oaks, and Arc in 2017.
One man who knows a thing or two about dual Oaks winners is Kieren Fallon. The six-time British champion jockey gained his first Irish Oaks on the Henry Cecil-trained Ramruma in 1999. He followed up with Ouija Board for Ed Dunlop in 2004 to secure the Oaks double, before repeating that feat with Alexandrova two years later when stable jockey to O’Brien.
“Minnie Hauk was very good at Epsom,” said Fallon. “She’s a beautiful, big, well-balanced filly, and you need to be because Epsom is a unique track. She’s lightly raced and I thought she was still a baby at Epsom and is going to improve. Like all of Aidan’s do, they keep getting better and better. I think she’s good enough to take on the colts, for sure. You’d think she can only get better.
“It takes a very good filly to win an Irish Oaks. Ramruma was small but she was very, very tough. Ouija Board was tough as well and she was able to beat the boys at Royal Ascot in the Prince of Wales’s later in her career. She was an amazing filly. I’ll never forget when I rode Alexandrova in her maiden at Tralee and she came home on her own. Again, a very tough filly.”
On the test facing Minnie Hauk, Fallon added: “The Curragh is a very fair track, you don’t have the same hustle and bustle as Epsom and if you miss the kick, you can take your time and if you’re up there, you can ride a race. You know if a filly can control herself at Epsom, she’ll definitely be able to do so at the Curragh.
“She’ll only improve from Epsom and she looks very hard to beat. I’d love to be in Ryan (Moore)’s position. It’s a case of keeping it simple and he’s so good at it.”
