Juddmonte Irish Oaks (Group 1)

IT wasn’t as comfortable a watch as her odds of 2/11 suggested it might be, but Minnie Hauk never tends to win by too far and pulled out enough when it mattered to become the 16th filly to complete the Epsom-Curragh double in the Juddmonte Irish Oaks.

With stablemate Whirl, who gave her so much to think about at Epsom, sidestepping this €500,000 prize to instead target either the Nassau Stakes or Yorkshire Oaks, this had the makings of a straightforward assignment for the Coolmore partners’ Frankel filly. An old rival, the Joseph O’Brien-trained Wemightakedlongway, had something to say about that, though.

Ryan Moore had to be conscious to avoid any unnecessary heartache from stall 1 on the Epsom heroine, and Dylan Browne McMonagle managed to get first run aboard the main market rival (Wemightakedlongway sent off at 7/2).

The response wasn't totally instantaneous when Minnie Hauk was first asked to quicken up by the Epsom Oaks/Pretty Polly Stakes fourth, but there was more than enough in reserve for her to become Aidan O’Brien’s record-extending eighth Irish Oaks winner. The pair finished two and a half lengths clear of the 96-rated Island Hopping, who kept boxing on well from the front under Wayne Lordan in the first-time cheekpieces to get classic blacktype.

Aidan O’Brien, who saddled the 1-3-4-5 in the seven-runner field, said: “We thought we'd be sitting second and Dylan got the second position, so Ryan had to make a decision: he was either going to sit second on Dylan's inside, in behind Wayne, or pull back out of it, in a way that he wouldn't have been boxed in.

“Obviously that's a decision Ryan had to make quickly and it was the right decision. It wasn't overly fast [in terms of the pace of the race]. We knew Joseph's filly was a good filly and Dylan gave her a very good ride. Ryan was very happy. He was out so he could go whenever he wanted. Overall, you couldn't be happier with her really.

“She's one of those fillies who you're probably never going to see the best of her until the tempo is very strong and very high. She cruises through her races.”

Even though it wasn't a flashy performance, several bookmakers reacted to the performance by trimming Minnie Hauk to 10/1 and 11/1 (from 12/1) for the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

On immediate targets, O’Brien added: “The boss [John Magnier] asked Ryan where to go with her and he said to go to the Yorkshire Oaks. The boss said 'what about if we gave her a break and trained her for the Vermeille, to give her kind of an Arc prep?' All those things are open and we'll see how she is. There’s obviously a bit of working out where the other fillies are going too.

“If she’s going to the Arc trials in France, a race like the Prix Vermeille, she’d have to have a couple of easy weeks. She wouldn’t if she went to York. She had a very easy race today, I'd say. The tempo wasn't very strong so she should come out of it well.

"I'd imagine in the next week or so we'll have a fair idea but they are her two options: to go to York or skip that for the Vermeille. Looking at her, she'd probably love York. She has a big stride and it's a flat track too. Obviously the boss will decide with Derek [Smith] and Michael [Tabor]."

The Joseph O’Brien team had no complaints about the effort of their plucky runner-up, who has been taking her racing well this summer but may now have a mid-season freshen.

"Wemightakedlongway ran brilliantly, tried to win the race and put it up to the winner,” said O’Brien’s race planner Kevin Blake.

“I thought Dylan rode a lovely, positive race and she was really game. It’s a career-best effort again. She might have a freshen up now, and a race like the Prix de l’Opera would look pretty obvious. Softer ground would help her. She’s physically progressing and her form is coming forward. It was a really honest effort.”