Weatherbys ePassport Cheshire Oaks
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Fillies' Listed, Chester 14:35
£120,000 guaranteed,
3yo only,
1m 3f 75y, Class 1   
Wednesday 7th May 2025

SureWIn

1 Minnie Hauk 13/8F
2 Secret Of Love 7/1
3 Caspi Star 12/1
7 ran Distances: 1l, 1¼l, 3l
Time: 2m 29.15s (slow by 6.15s)

Minnie Hauk boosted her Classic profile and gave Aidan O’Brien yet another reason to smile, handing the master of Ballydoyle a ninth win in the Oaks trial.

It’s a race he’s made his own—though the Roodee hasn’t always been the route to Epsom glory. None of his previous eight winners have followed up in the Betfred Oaks, but it was a near miss with Forever Together in 2018, who came up short here but triumphed when it mattered most. And of course, who could forget Enable, who did the double in dazzling fashion for John Gosden a year earlier?

Back to today—and it was the beautifully bred Frankel filly Minnie Hauk who carried all the weight of expectation as the 13-8 favourite. She’d shaped with promise on debut at Cork and got off the mark at Leopardstown, and here she looked every inch a filly on the up.

Tracking Queen Of Thieves throughout under Ryan Moore, she cruised into contention turning in—and when asked, she answered. A length clear of the staying-on Secret Of Love at the line, Minnie Hauk’s name now sits proudly on a roll of honour that’s never short on talent, even if not always laced with Epsom winners.

Paul Smith, son of Derrick Smith, part of the Coolmore triumvirate with Michael Tabor and John Magnier, said: “I think we’ll be heading to Epsom after that, Aidan always thought she’d improve a lot for this run.

“She’s a kind, uncomplicated filly with a great attitude and the step up in trip obviously helped, so we’ll be looking at the Oaks I would think.”

He added: “Ryan was niggling a little on the way round but he said that was just to get her interested. She always responds to the jockey and that was what she did, she just kept finding.

“Aidan always says how much they learn by coming here, he picks the ones he thinks will come on the most. It’s a unique track, they are so close to the crowd and they come on a ton, so he always likes to have them pointed towards here.

“We don’t know if she’s number one, we’ll see how all the trials go in the next week or so, but she has to be in the mix.”

Weatherbys ePassport Cheshire Oaks
(Robert Sangster Memorial Cup) (Fillies' Listed)
£120,000 guaranteed, 3yo only, 1m 3f 75y, Class 1
7 ran
Going: Good

POS. (DRAW) DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 (6)    Minnie Hauk 3 9-2 A P O'Brien Ryan Moore 13/8F
2 (1) 1 Secret Of Love 3 9-2 Andrew Balding David Probert 7/1
3 (5) 1¼ Caspi Star 3 9-2 Charlie Johnston Silvestre De Sousa 12/1
4 (2) 3 That's Amore 3 9-2 Ralph Beckett Rossa Ryan 9/4
5 (3) 1¼ Kate O'Riley 3 9-2 Michael Bell Saffie Osborne 25/1
6 (7) ¾ Modern Utopia 3 9-2 George Scott Callum Shepherd 22/1
7 (4) 5½ Queen Of Thieves 3 9-2 John & Thady Gosden Kieran Shoemark 6/1

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