Juddmonte Irish Oaks
Grade 1, Curragh 15:40
€500,000 guaranteed,
3yo fillies,
1m 4f, Class 1   
Saturday 19th July 2025

1 Minnie Hauk 2/11F
2 Wemightakedlongway 7/2
3 Island Hopping 20/1
7 ran Distances: 1¼l, 2½l, 5l
Time: 2m 33.62s (slow by 0.72s)

She may not have dazzled, but she delivered — and for all her pedigree and profile, it was grit, not glamour, that saw Minnie Hauk add a second Classic to her growing résumé.

Already an Oaks heroine at Epsom, where she subdued stablemate Whirl with late authority, the Frankel filly arrived here an odds-on certainty — 2-11 in a field of seven — and while the manner was workmanlike rather than wondrous, the outcome was never truly in doubt.

Ryan Moore had her parked in third through the early fractions, watching on as Island Hopping made the running with Wemightakedlongway — fourth in both the Epsom and Pretty Polly — acting as an able buffer between pace and pressure. It was a measured gallop, more rehearsal than full-blown recital, but when push came to shove at the two-furlong pole, Minnie Hauk's class began to surface.

Wemightakedlongway, under a well-judged Dylan Browne McMonagle, didn’t wilt easily — and for a fleeting moment, a shock looked a plausible plot twist. But Moore, ever ice-cool in the crucible, shifted Minnie Hauk into daylight and gradually reeled in the front-runner, eventually edging away to win by a length and a quarter and give Aidan O’Brien a record-extending eighth win in the race.

“She’s not a filly who’ll knock your eye out mid-race,” O’Brien reflected post-race. “She travels, she cruises — but she’s always going to be better when they go a real gallop. Today wasn’t that.”

And it wasn’t without a tactical wrinkle, either.

“We expected to sit second, but Dylan was sharp from the gates and Ryan had to react,” O’Brien explained. “He could have tried to hold that spot inside Dylan, but risked being caught in a pocket. So he had to ease, slot back, and give himself options — and, as ever, he chose right.”

With Classic duties now ticked off on both sides of the Irish Sea, attention turns to the late summer calendar. Bookmakers have responded swiftly: Minnie Hauk is 2-1 favourite for the Yorkshire Oaks and 10-1 joint-favourite for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

So, what next?

“The boss asked Ryan where we should go,” O’Brien revealed. “Ryan said York. The boss wondered about the Vermeille instead — use that as an Arc prep. Both options are open. If we go to France, she’d have an easier few weeks. For York, we’d have to keep her ticking over.”

Today, though, took little out of her.

“The pace wasn’t strong, she came through it well, and she’s the type to relish York — big-striding, very fluent. Flat track. It suits her. But as always, John, Derrick and Michael will decide.”

For now, she remains unbeaten in Classics, unfazed in adversity — and unmistakably on the rise.

Juddmonte Irish Oaks (Group 1)
€500,000 guaranteed, 3yo only, 1m 4f
7 ran
Going: Good, Good to Yielding in places

POS. (DRAW) DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 (1)    Minnie Hauk 3 9-2 A P O'Brien Ryan Moore 2/11F
2 (3) 1¼ Wemightakedlongway 3 9-2 Joseph Patrick O'Brien Dylan Browne McMonagle 7/2
3 (7) 2½ Island Hopping 3 9-2 A P O'Brien Wayne Lordan 20/1
4 (4) 5 Butterfly Wings 3 9-2 A P O'Brien Ronan Whelan 66/1
5 (2) 5 Merrily 3 9-2 A P O'Brien Declan McDonogh 50/1
6 (6) 3½ Subsonic 3 9-2 J P Murtagh Ben Coen Ben Coen 33/1
7 (5) 2½ Bay Colony 3 9-2 J A Stack Seamie Heffernan 125/1

FormRatings

Previous Years
2024 You Got To Me 3 9-2 Hector Crouch 15/2 (Ralph Beckett) (Drawn 2)
2023 Savethelastdance 3 9-2 Ryan Moore 10/11F (A P O'Brien) (Drawn 5)
2022 Magical Lagoon 3 9-2 Shane Foley 5/4F (Mrs John Harrington) (Drawn 8)
2021 Snowfall 3 9-2 Ryan Moore 2/7F (A P O'Brien) (Drawn 1)
2020 Even So 3 9-2 Colin Keane 10/1 (G M Lyons) (Drawn 2)
2019 Star Catcher 3 9-0 L Dettori 7/2 (John Gosden) (Drawn 3)
2018 Sea of Class 3 9-0 James Doyle 11/4 (William Haggas) (Drawn 7)
2017 Enable 3 9-0 L Dettori 2/5Fav (John Gosden) (Drawn 6)
2016 Seventh Heaven 3 9-0 J A Heffernan 14/1 (A P O'Brien) (Drawn 9)
2015 Covert Love 3 9-0 P J Smullen 7/1 (Hugo Palmer) (Drawn 8)
2014 Bracelet 3 9-0 C O'Donoghue 10/1 (A P O'Brien) (Drawn 3)
2013 Chicquita 3 9-0 J P Murtagh 9/2 (A de Royer-Dupre) (Drawn 1)
2012 Great Heavens 3 9-0 W Buick 5/4Fav (John Gosden) (Drawn 1)
2011 Blue Bunting 3 9-0 L Dettori 5/2 (M Al Zarooni) (Drawn 3)
2010 Snow Fairy 3 9-0 R L Moore 7/2 (Ed Dunlop) (Drawn 9)
2009 Sariska 3 9-0 J P Spencer 1/1Fav (Michael Bell) (Drawn 3)
2008 Moonstone 3 9-0 J P Murtagh 2/1Fav (A P O'Brien) (Drawn 10)
2007 Peeping Fawn 3 9-0 J P Murtagh 3/1 (A P O'Brien) (Drawn 4)
2006 Alexandrova 3 9-0 K Fallon 8/15Fav (A P O'Brien) (Drawn 2)
2005 Shawanda 3 9-0 C Soumillon 9/2 (A de Royer-Dupre) (Drawn 7)
2004 Ouija Board 3 9-0 K Fallon 4/7Fav (Ed Dunlop) (Drawn 4)
2003 Vintage Tipple 3 9-0 L Dettori 12/1 (P Mullins) (Drawn 8)
2002 Margarula 3 9-0 K J Manning 33/1 (J S Bolger) (Drawn 12)
2001 Lailani 3 9-0 L Dettori 5/1 (Ed Dunlop) (Drawn 1)
2000 Petrushka 3 9-0 J P Murtagh 11/2 (Sir Michael Stoute) (Drawn 10)
1999 Ramruma 3 9-0 K Fallon 4/9Fav (Sir H R A Cecil) (Drawn 1)