Minnie Hauk, making her fourth start, outdueled stablemate Whirl in the final furlong to win Friday’s Group 1 English Oaks at Epsom Racecourse in Britain, giving trainer Aidan O’Brien an 11th career win in the historic race.
Minnie Hauk, ridden by Ryan Moore, won by a neck over 6-1 Whirl, who set the pace. Desert Flower, previously unbeaten in five starts, including the Group 1 English 1000 Guineas at a mile at Newmarket on May 4, finished third, beaten 4 1/4 lengths in her first race beyond a mile.
Desert Flower was the 4-5 favorite. The $746,600 English Oaks was run at 1 1/2 miles.
Minnie Hauk, who paid $8 as the second choice, also started at 1 1/2 miles for the first time, but won her first start this year in the Cheshire Oaks at 1 7/16 miles at Chester Racecourse in Britain on May 7. Minnie Hauk, by Frankel, was well backed in recent days, having been 6-1 in the future book at the beginning of the week.
“I’m delighted with her,” O’Brien told the press. “She’s very classy and Ryan gave her a beautiful ride. She’s very exciting. She’s obviously learning. She went to Chester and learned a lot and was still green.
“What you love about her is that she’s a great traveler. 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.”
O’Brien trains Minnie Hauk and Whirl for the Coolmore syndicate. Minnie Hauk was O’Brien’s first English Oaks winner since Tuesday in 2022. He won the race for the first time in 1998 with Shahtoush.
Despite an incredible haul of victories in the English Oaks, O’Brien is second on the all-time list in the historic race to Robert Robson, who won the race 13 times from 1802 to 1825. The English Oaks dates to 1779.
Desert Flower handled the distance, according to trainer Charlie Appleby, who said the undulating course at Epsom may have played a factor in her loss. Fields at Epsom race downhill on the turn before an uphill finish.
“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,” Appleby said.
“Back on a more conventional track will hopefully be more her gig.”
Appleby mentioned the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks for 3-year-old fillies and older fillies and mares at 1 1/2 miles at York Racecourse on Aug. 21 is a summertime goal.
O’Brien wins Coronation Cup
Another of O’Brien’s runners proved the spoiler in Epsom’s other Group 1 on Friday when Jan Brueghel ($8.20) held off a sustained threat from 2-5 favorite Calandagan to win the $610,800 Coronation Cup for older horses by a half-length.
Jan Brueghel, ridden by Moore, was never far from the front and took the lead from 65-1 Continuous, a pacesetting stablemate, with a quarter-mile remaining.
Giavellotto (9-2) finished third in the field of seven.
Jan Brueghel gave O’Brien a 10th career win in the Coronation Cup.
A 4-year-old colt by Galileo, Jan Brueghel won his second Group 1 race in the Coronation Cup. Last September, in his final start of 2024, Jan Brueghel won the Group 1 English St. Leger at Doncaster Racecourse.
In his first start this year, Jan Brueghel was second to Galen as the odds-on favorite in the Group 3 Alleged Stakes at the Curragh in Ireland. O’Brien said on Friday that he ran Jan Brueghel too soon in the Alleged, the colt’s only loss in six starts.
“He’s a very good tough horse who was unbeaten last year, and he’d still be unbeaten if I hadn’t run him too early at The Curragh this year,” O’Brien said.
“He’s very tough and Ryan gave him a class ride, but you know he doesn’t surrender. He’d improved a lot from the last day, and you could see he was pricking his ears at the finish.”
Jan Brueghel, owned by the Coolmore syndicate, may return in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at the Royal Ascot meeting on June 21.
Calandagan, trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, has finished second in Group 1 races in his last four starts. He was second in the Group 1 Sheema Classic at 1 1/2 miles in Dubai on April 5.
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