O'Brien Wins Record 11th Epsom Oaks With Minnie Hauk

Minnie Hauk (IRE) got the better of a sustained duel with stablemate Whirl (IRE) to win the Epsom Oaks (G1) June 6, with favorite Desert Flower (IRE) third having come under pressure turning into the home straight at Epsom Downs Racecourse. Market and stable confidence was high behind Desert Flower, the unbeaten Godolphin filly who had been much the best when winning the One Thousand Guineas (G1) at Newmarket last month. Her rider, William Buick, opted to follow Minnie Hauk, who was taking a lead from Whirl, who had been a runaway winner of the Musidora Stakes (G3) at York last time. As the horses came around Tattenham Corner, Whirl and Minnie Hauk moved smoothly, while Desert Flower started to come under pressure. Stamina did not appear to be an issue, although the track did. With the favorite going nowhere for the time being, Whirl and Minnie Hauk went on. It looked for a time that it was a case of "when not if" for jockey Ryan Moore on Minnie Hauk, but Whirl was having none of it. Moore and Minnie Hauk challenged, Whirl fought back—and continued to fight back. Head-to-head they went, the result unclear until just yards from the line, when Minnie Hauk finally got the verdict, finishing a neck ahead of her stablemate. "She's still learning a little bit," Moore said of Minnie Hauk. "Aidan had a lot of faith in her. She traveled around strongly and I got to her quite easy, and then she was a little green in front. "When the other filly came back she went on again. She's a talented filly and she stayed on well. I'm very happy with her and hopefully, she'll build on this." Aidan O'Brien won the Oaks for a record 11th time. O'Brien said: "I was delighted with this filly and she's very classy. She was just ready to run at Chester and she made improvement from that. Ryan gave her a beautiful ride and she's a very exciting filly. She's obviously learning and she's going to improve with racing." Minnie Hauk, a lightly raced daughter of Frankel (GB), scored her first top-level victory after taking last month's Cheshire Oaks at Chester in her third start. As for Desert Flower, the Night of Thunder (IRE) filly suffered her first loss in six career starts for trainer Charlie Appleby. Having come under pressure turning for home, she continued to fight her corner all the way up the straight. She was never closer than at the finish but never looked like getting to the front two. The sales topper at the 2023 Goffs September Orby Sale, Minnie Hauk sold to the Coolmore partners for €1.85 million. The 3-year-old is the second group stakes winner produced out of the Dansili mare Multilingual, who is responsible for 2021 Summer Mile Stakes (G2) winner and Prix d'Ispahan (G1) runner-up Tilsit (First Defence). Multilingual, a daughter of group 1 winner Zenda, is a half sibling to 2014 Cartier Horse of the Year and outstanding stallion Kingman (GB).