Minnie Hauk ran out a dominant three-and-a-half-length winner of the Yorkshire Oaks to add a third Group 1 to her haul following victories in the Oaks and Irish Oaks.
Sent off the 8/15 favourite, Minnie Hauk hit the front a couple of furlongs out and soon saw off the challenge of 5/2 second favourite Estrange, the only four-year-old in the four-runner field.
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Rider Ryan Moore, winning the Yorkshire Oaks for a fifth time, said: "She's a straightforward filly. She's obviously very high class, her record indicates how classy she is, and it was fairly straightforward.
"She travelled there very well from the three [furlong mark] to the two, and she doesn't do a whole lot when she hits the front, but when you ask her she finds."
'The better the race, the better she's going to be'
It was a ninth Yorkshire Oaks, and fifth in the last six editions, for Aidan O'Brien, who said: "She's beautiful, she does everything right, she cruises. She's a lovely mover.
"Ryan gave her a class ride, he was very cool on her. She's classy and he gave her a classy, confident ride. It wasn't going to be a micky-mouse race, they were going to go an even gallop without going crazy. She's a filly that, you've heard Ryan say, the stronger the tempo the better we're going to see. She's very exciting."
Minnie Hauk was trimmed to 8/1 (from a top price of 12/1) for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, which O'Brien said was an option for Minnie Hauk, though Oaks runner-up Whirl, who has since won the Pretty Polly and Nassau Stakes, could also come into the picture for that assignment. Whirl and Minnie Hauk were both rated 122p with Timeform prior to Thursday's Yorkshire Oaks, while only a neck split the pair at Epsom.
O'Brien added: "Ryan mentioned the Arc for Whirl and maybe the Breeders' Cup for this filly depending on ground. Whirl, we obviously saw at Goodwood, handles soft ground, but she handles the other ground as well. This one is a beautiful mover but she has won on soft ground. We always thought the quicker the ground the better she was going to be, and she skipped over that today. The lads will decide what they want to do - we'll leave her to come out of the race - but she has a lot of options. We've always felt the better the race, the better she's going to be."
O'Meara happy with runner-up Estrange
Minnie Hauk faced a brief threat a couple of furlongs out when Lancashire Oaks winner Estrange was delivered with her challenge down the outside, but she readily saw off that threat and was soon in control. Estrange's trainer David O'Meara was still pleased with how his filly fared on her first attempt at Group 1 company, particularly as the quick ground wouldn't have played to the strengths of one so effective when it's testing.
He said: "I was starting to get a bit excited two out when Danny [Tudhope] loomed up, I thought she travelled so well, but Minnie Hauk did what she did at the Curragh and was really tough and found plenty for pressure. I'm delighted with my filly on ground that I think isn't her optimum. I thought she performed very well."
O'Meara added: "She deserves her spot in Group 1 company. Today was a brilliant run. The only two older fillies who have won this in recent years have both won Arcs - Enable and Alpinista.
"She's not done too badly today. We rolled the dice on ground I had said we wouldn't run on, but we made a collective decision and we've come here and run on it, and I think we've run well."
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