The Queen, no less, wanted to be in the post-race photographs with Minnie Hauk after her win in the Group One Yorkshire Oaks here on Thursday, and while the race itself was effectively over as soon as the odds-on favourite hit the front two furlongs out, there was abundant evidence of the qualities that will make her a major player in the autumn’s global championship events.
Aidan O’Brien’s filly was an unknown quantity, unraced in anything but maiden company at two, when she lined up for the Cheshire Oaks in May, but her win on the Roodeye has now been followed by three straight Group One victories, including a neck defeat of a stable-companion, Whirl, in the Oaks at Epsom in June.
And all the while, there has been a continuing sense that we have yet to see the best of Minnie Hauk.
”She’s a classy filly with a high level of ability,” Ryan Moore, her jockey, said afterwards. “A decent tempo on a flat track and nice ground probably contributed to her winning the way she did, and she’s always had a habit of just doing enough.
“When I asked her to go and win her race at the two, she dug in and the last furlong was easy. She does everything right, she gets the mile-and-a-half well but she could probably come back [in trip], and she seems to handle slow ground and quick ground. She’s professional and does everything nicely and she has plenty of options.”
The most obvious possibilities are one or both of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in early October, and the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar a month later, though Whirl is also a leading candidate for the same events.
“We’ve always felt the better the race, the better she’ll be,” O’Brien said. “She’s won well in the end, our filly, she obviously stays very well and always finishes her race off well. She doesn’t kill herself getting there but she’s always finishing.
“She has to be close to the top of our pecking order for the Arc, she’s an improving filly at this time of year. She could go to the Breeders’ Cup Turf but also the Arc [and] Whirl could go with her.”
Fillies continue to dominate the Arc betting after Thursday’s race, with Andrew Balding’s Kalpana, the King George runner-up, narrowly favoured at around 7-1, with Whirl and Minnie Hauk at 9-1 and 10-1 respectively.
Friday tips: A Quality pick in Nunthorpe
Ten juveniles have tried and failed to take advantage of the weight concession from their older rivals since Kingsgate Native’s success in the Nunthorpe Stakes in 2007, but that has not deterred the connections of Lady Iman and Spicy Marg, who will face 15 rivals in the feature race on day three of York’s Ebor Festival.
Both are fillies and so get the maximum allowance, with just 8st 2lb to carry, and Lady Iman, unbeaten at the five-furlong trip, is the narrow favourite at around 5-1 in the early betting for what is an exceptionally open renewal of the meeting’s big sprint.
In all, a dozen of the 17 runners are priced up at between 5-1 and 20-1, for a race that has had winners at 100-1, 40-1 twice and 28-1 over the last 15 years. Timeform’s ratings confirm that there is very little to choose between the majority of the field, and that while Lady Iman undoubtedly has more scope for improvement than most of her rivals, she still has something to find with several runners at bigger odds.
Solid alternatives include Jm Jungle, who has excellent track form and put up a careerbest to win the Group Two King George Stakes at Goodwood last time, but fillies and mares have a fine record in the Nunthorpe in recent years and York is also likely to play to the strengths of the runner-up there, She’s Quality (3.35).
Jack Davison’s filly has been second on all four of her starts this season, and showed impressive speed to lead until well inside the final furlong in the Charge at Sandown on Eclipse day. She should see things out better on the Knavesmire and is an interesting bet at around 10-1 to give her a trainer a first Group One success.
York 1.50 French Duke has struggled to get involved from tricky draws at Ascot and Goodwood on his last two starts, but deserves one more chance to rediscover his promising three-year-old form in a smaller field, and at a track that gives his rider more room for manoeuvre.
York 2.25 John and Thady Gosden’s Trawlerman established himself as the leading stayer in Britain with a seven-length success in the Ascot Gold Cup last time and a 3lb penalty for that win is unlikely to prevent him following up.
York 3.00 This is not the strongest renewal of the Gimcrack by any stretch and the likely favourite, Do Or Do Not, is still a maiden after five starts, so the way could be open for the once-raced Lifeplan to follow up his cosy debut success at Thirsk in July.
York 4.10 Zgharta had no luck at all in running at Goodwood last time and will be strongly fancied to make amends off the same mark.
