Minnie Hauk calls the tune in Yorkshire Oaks

Minnie Hauk (Frankel) made it three Gr.1 wins on the bounce with a dominant display in the 1m4f Yorkshire Oaks yesterday afternoon. She was providing trainer Aidan O’Brien with a joint-record ninth win in the race, moving him alongside Sir Michael Stoute and Mathew Dawson in the overall standings.

Taken from European Bloodstock News, 22nd August 2025

Despite only four runners going to post, the Ballydoyle camp were keen to ensure that this was a true test of stamina. Their Gr.2 Ribblesdale Stakes winner Garden Of Eden (Saxon Warrior) set some punchy fractions at the head of the field and had opened up a four or five-length lead over Qilin Queen (Pinatubo) by halfway. Minnie Hauk travelled smoothly under Ryan Moore in third, and Estrange (Night Of Thunder), the only older filly in the lineup, stalked the favourite in last. The leader came back to the pack approaching the final three furlongs and Minnie Hauk soon took
up the baton. It briefly looked as though Estrange might be able to provide a stern challenge to the dual Classic winner, but she could never get past Minnie Hauk’s girths, and the Coolmore partners-owned filly kept up a relentless gallop in the final furlong to win by three and a half lengths. Garden Of Eden finished the same margin away in third, with Qilin Queen dropping away in fourth.
Speaking to ITV Racing afterwards, the winning trainer said: “She’s beautiful, she does everything right, she cruises, she’s a lovely mover, and obviously the Arc and the Breeders’ Cup Turf - all those races are there for her. Ryan said the Turf, so she’s obviously given him an unbelievable feel. Ryan gave her a class ride; he was very cool on her. She is classy and he gave her a very confident ride. It wasn’t going to be a Mickey Mouse race today; they were going to go an even gallop without going crazy. Ryan has always said the stronger the tempo, the better we’re going to see. She’s very exciting.”
Talking of the Gr.1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Minnie Hauk has been cut into a general 7/1 for the Longchamp showpiece on the first Sunday in October. In a market dominated by fillies, she is currently vying for favouritism with Kalpana (Study Of Man) and old rival and stable companion Whirl (Wootton Bassett). This was a fifth win in six career starts for Minnie Hauk, who has gone unbeaten since finishing second in a 1m Cork maiden on her racecourse debut last October. She shed her maiden tag at Leopardstown shortly afterwards before winning the Listed
Cheshire Oaks on her comeback. She has since reeled off wins in the Oaks, Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks, in doing so emulating the Gr.1 hat-trick completed by Ballydoyle fillies Alexandrova
(Sadler’s Wells) in 2006 and Snowfall (Deep Impact) in 2021.

Bred by Ben Sangster and sourced for €1,850,000 by MV Magnier at Book 1 of the Goffs Orby Sale, she is a half-sister to the Gr.2 Summer Mile Stakes winner and Gr.1 Prix d’Ispahan second Tilsit (First Defence), who currently stands as a sire in Turkey. They are out of the Dansili mare Multilingual, a once-raced half-sister to the top-class miler and leading sire Kingman (Invincible Spirit) and a full-sister to Gr.3 winner and sire Remote. Their dam is the Gr.1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Zenda (Zamindar), whose half-brother Oasis Dream (Green Desert) won the Gr.1 July Cup before a successful stallion career. This is also the family of the Gr.1 Irish Oaks winner Wemyss Bight (Dancing Brave; dam of the multiple Gr.1-winning sire Beat Hollow).