Minnie Hauk (9-2) got the better of her stable companion Whirl (15-2) to hand trainer Aidan O’Brien a 1-2 in today’s Group One Betfred Oaks, the third of the five Betfred British Classics.
Whirl (15-2) made nearly all of the running in the 12-furlong highlight only to be overhauled by her stable companion inside the final furlong, with Minnie Hauk going on to score by a neck. The 11-10 Favourite, the Godolphin-owned Desert Flower, was another four lengths back in third.
The master Ballydoyle has now won the fillies’ Classic on 11 occasions, just two adrift of 19th century handler Robert Robson who won the race on 13th occasions. O’Brien’s previous Oaks winners were Shahtoush (1998), Imagine (2001), Alexandrova (2006), Was (2012), Qualify (2015), Minding (2016), Forever Together (2018), Love (2020), Snowfall (2021) and Tuesday (2022).
It was a fifth Betfred Oaks for jockey Ryan Moore after Snow Fairy (2010), Minding (2016), Love (2020) and Tuesday (2022).
Aidan O’Brien said: “I’m delighted with her; she’s very classy and Ryan gave her a beautiful ride. He loved her the last day [at Chester] and then again today, so she’s very exciting. She’s obviously learning - she went to Chester and learnt a lot and was still green, and she was always improving from mid-race.
“What you love about her is that she’s a great traveller; she has a lot of class. Ryan felt he was going very easily today on her and usually what that means is that she will be able to step up a couple of grades into even higher-class races. It’s lovely for the lads and for everyone to have another filly like that.
“Colin [Keane] was delighted with his filly [Giselle, 5th]; he said she’s a bit of a baby and a bit weak, so she will improve.
“Whirl (second) ran a great race; she stays and obviously has a lot of class too. We were going to go forward if no one else wanted to. Ryan was going to go forward, and so was Wayne. Obviously Colin didn’t want to go forward; his filly was too keen and we all knew that; he was going to try to get her to relax and see what would happen. I don’t think it was too fast a pace. I’m delighted with the way it all went.
“Those Wootton Bassetts [Whirl’s sire] - obviously they have speed but they also stay. Obviously she got a mile and a quarter at York by staying and we thought there was a chance she would get the mile and a half, but we weren’t sure. Ryan said that he would have been happier going a bit faster in the first half of race, and usually the sign of a very classy filly, so that means she’ll be very comfortable standing up against the older horses when the time comes. We’ll see. I’m delighted for everyone. It’s a big team and everyone plays their part - I’m just the observer, really, and it’s the lads who, every year, keep these pedigrees going and make sure we have these horses to be able to work with.”
Ryan Moore said: “The race went pretty much perfect for me. She’s still a little bit babyish, but she travelled strongly then went to sleep, then quickened up better than I expected her to.
“When she’d quickened by she thought she’d done enough and she waited, but when Whirl came back she found more. She’s a good filly.”
Wayne Lordan, rider of the second Whirl, said: “I’ve gone a nice gallop as we felt that she would stay. She was loving it out the front; she kept extending well.
“Ryan went a good half-length off me. I think both fillies were just coming to the end of their tether and having a bit of a roll around, but I felt we had been well held at the line. I couldn’t fault my filly - she ran a stormer. She’s a lovely filly and she tries hard. She’s very straightforward, very uncomplicated and she shows you everything she has.”
Charlie Appleby, trainer of the third Desert Flower, said: “It just looked like she got a bit unbalanced coming down the hill and hit a bit of a flat spot just at the point you don’t want to, but take nothing away from the first two as they just kept galloping.
“We all think she got it [the trip] and personally I’d like to see her in something like the Yorkshire Oaks, on a nice galloping track. We’ll give her a break now.
“Will just thought she’d be more comfortable on a sounder surface than she got today. She won on slow ground in the Fillies’ Mile, but slow ground on a track like this might have been a consideration. Back on a more conventional track will hopefully be more her gig.”
Colin Keane, rider of fifth-placed Giselle, said: “She ran okay. She was a little bit in my hands in the first half then settled as we went on. She feels like a filly who lengthens and gallops rather than quickens, but it was a nice run.”
Jockey Jim Crowley said of seventh-placed Elwateen: “She was disappointing. We were beaten turning in so we can’t blame the trip. I had a lovely run round but it just didn’t happen.”
