Minnie Hauk (5/1) rediscovered her best form for Aidan O’Brien with a commanding victory in the Group 1 Qatar Racing British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.

The four-year-old sat on the quarters of front-running stablemate Sugar Island before being produced to challenge by Ryan Moore approaching the final furlong. She readily went away soon after to win by a length and a half from Believed (16/1), with Lilt (6/1) a neck further back in third.

Tenth in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on her latest appearance, it was a return to form for Minnie Hauk, who enjoyed a Group 1 hat trick last year in the English, Irish and Yorkshire Oaks.

O’Brien said: “Minnie Hauk is a very high-class filly. William [Buick] thought in the Arc that she just got caught in there and they went slow – he felt she was a lot better than that on the day. Ryan kept it quite simple on her today; she was drawn wide, and I thought he was very good on her. He stayed out until he came back in.

“We know what she did last year, and she had a lot of trouble with corns this year, so we never got a really good run into her. But since the Arc, she has been lovely and everything has been great with her. Corns are like having a stone in your foot; we would get them cleared up and they would come back again. She has been prone to them, but lately they have come right.

“The lads will decide what they want to do – whether they go to America with her or whether she is retired, but I think she is going to Justify at the end of the year. Whatever happens, I am delighted for everyone involved.

“Andrew Balding is a great fellow, and they are a great family. The very best of luck to them today. It is a bit of fun [the trainers’ championship], and we are all delighted to be here.”

Moore said: “The race was straightforward, but getting Minnie Hauk here has not been straightforward. She ran in the Arc 13 days ago and performed today the best she has done all year. Things have not gone right for her, but she was doing everything lovely. We were able to slide outside Sugar Island, did not go mad, and she just had more class than them today.”

Oisin Murphy said of Believed: “A career best. We thought she could run a great race, and she has lived up to expectations. On figures, she has actually improved with every single start, without fail.”

Lilt’s rider Tom Marquand said: “We were pretty confident that she would love the trip. The ground is probably quite important to her as well. More than anything, she is pretty lightly raced, so I was asking a bit of her downhill to try to hold the line just inside Minnie Hauk, but she did a good job. I presume the plan is to keep her in training, and you would imagine, just looking at her, that she is going to progress and fill out even more.”

Minnie Hauk is a four-year-old filly by Frankel out of Multilingual, by Dansili. The dam only ran once for John Gosden before being sold by Juddmonte for $525,000 to Ollie Sangster. Minnie Hauk was bred by Ben Sangster and sold for €1.85 million to Coolmore at the 2023 Goffs Orby Sale.

2.40pm Qatar Racing British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (Group 1)

1 Minnie Hauk (Derrick Smith, Sue Magnier & Michael Tabor) Aidan O’Brien IRE 4-9-07 Ryan Moore 5/1

2 Believed (Qatar Racing Limited) Johnny Murtagh IRE 3-9-01 Oisin Murphy 16/1

3 Lilt (James Wigan) William Haggas 3-9-01 Tom Marquand 6/1

12 ran Evens Fav Kalpana (7th)