Minnie Hauk will try to become the 16th filly to complete the Epsom-Curragh Oaks double this Saturday and follow in the hoofprints of some stellar names.
Aidan O’Brien’s star got the better of her stable companion Whirl in an exciting finish at Epsom last month and the form got a major boost when the latter beat Kalpana in a memorable finish to the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh over Derby weekend.
Lambourn became the 20th colt to pull off the Epsom-Curragh double on that occasion, winning at cramped 8-13 odds for O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore.
Minnie Hauk is already shorter than that in some ante-posts for the Juddmonte Irish Oaks and could start an even more prohibitive price.
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Godolphin’s Desert Flower, who started favourite at Epsom but could only finish third, has been ruled out of the race. Catalina Delcarpio started favourite for Royal Ascot’s Ribblesdale Stakes but managed only third, after which trainer Paddy Twomey suggested a drop in trip could be next.
O’Brien didn’t rule out the Irish Oaks for the Ribblesdale winner Garden Of Eden but there’s no doubt Minnie Hauk is his big hope for a record-extending eighth success in the Irish Oaks.
“She is on course for the Curragh, and everything has went well since Epsom so far,” the Ballydoyle trainer confirmed on Sunday.
The last of O’Brien’s winners in the €500,000 highlight was Snowfall, a spectacular 16-length winner at Epsom, who completed the double as a 2-7 favourite at the Curragh. That ill-fated filly was the sixth this century to pull off the feat.
Others such as Enable (2017), Snow Fairy (2010) and Ouija Board (2004) went on to become some of the highest rated and most accomplished performers in the modern history of the sport.
Winner of the Chesire Oaks prior to Epsom, and winner of three of her four career starts to date, Minnie Hauk was also the €1.85 million sales topper at the 2023 Goffs Orby Sale. She is also already among the favourites to emulate Enable and land October’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
After criticism about the quality of Derby day’s undercard, with six handicaps due to inclusion in World Pool betting, the Oaks programme is crammed with other black-type action.
A trio of Group Two prizes includes the Gain Railway Stakes, a two-year-old prize moved from Derby day, and the Barberstown Castle Sapphire Stakes.
Runner-up to Highfield Princess in the 2022 Flying Five over course and distance, Erosandpsyche is now with trainer Danny Murphy who is keeping his fingers crossed for rainfall ahead of the Sapphire.
“I’m praying for rain, he loves soft ground that horse. He’s improving, he didn’t get the six [furlongs] the last day [at the Curragh]. We’ll stick to five. He’ll run in the Sapphire because he is in great old form,” Murphy reported.
In other news, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board says it is ensuring an “appropriate approach” is taken to administering the various charity funds it oversees.
Last November’s audit report on a controversial €350,000 payment from a jockeys’ charity fund to the IHRB prompted racing’s regulator into improving its financial governance procedures.
The Mazars report revealed how the transfer of €350,000 from the Jockeys Emergency Fund to the regulator’s bank account in January 2022 was not compliant with the Charities Act. The transfer was reversed three months later. The report examined six years of IHRB financial records.
The IHRB’s annual report for 2024 states the body has taken “significant actions” to improve its financial governance.
“Since we initiated this review, significant actions have been taken to improve our financial governance procedures and internal controls and we were glad to have had the opportunity to report publicly on this work to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee and the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine,” the IHRB’s chief executive, Darragh O’Loughlin, said.
The body’s chairman John Byrne added: “Prior to publication [of the Mazars report], a number of changes were already implemented by the IHRB. Subsequently the IHRB has continued to action the findings within the report and ensure the appropriate approach is taken towards the administration of the various charities.”
Monday sees the start of Killarney’s five-day July festival. Champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins and champion flat jockey Colin Keane combine for the course and distance winner Alpha Capture in a handicap.
