Chester May Festival 2025: Minnie Hauk wins the Cheshire Oaks to book Epsom place
-Credit:Minnie Hauk (13-8 favourite) booked her place at Epsom with victory in the Listed Weatherbys ePassport Cheshire Oaks on day one of the 2025 Boodles Chester May Festival.
Aidan O'Brien's three-year-old daughter of Frankel was making her third career start on the Roodee – a place the Ballydoyle handler likes to send his Epsom hopefuls as there are some similarities on the tight turning track. And she made it two wins from those three starts and is likely to head to Epsom for the Betfred Oaks on June 6. Minnie Hauk was cut to as low as 6-1 for the Fillies' Classic although William Hill were best-priced at 12-1.
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Under Ryan Moore, Minnie Hauk travelled reasonably well off the pace set by Queen Of Thieves although she had to kept up to her work by the top jockey. After the turn for home in the extended 1m3f Listed contest, Moore moved Minnie Hauk to the front and as the leader faded the pack tried to close in. But Minnie Hauk stayed on well to score by a length from Andrew Balding's Secret Of Love (7-1) with Caspi Star (14-1) a further length-and-a-quarter back in third.
READ MORE: Chester May Festival 2025 day two: Mount Kilimanjaro can win the Dee Stakes
READ MORE: Chester May Festival 2025 day one: Lambourn can win the Chester Vase
O'Brien was landing a record-extending ninth victory in the Cheshire Oaks and Minnie Hauk remains an improving filly who deserves a crack at the real thing at Epsom next month. None of O'Brien's previous Cheshire Oaks winners have also triumphed at Epsom with the last to do the double being John Gosden's mighty mare Enable in 2017, although the Ballydoyle handler's Forever Together scored in the Classic having been second on the Roodee the following year.
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Paul Smith, son of Derrick Smith, part of the owners 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."
Jockey Moore, who was winning the Cheshire Oaks for a record seventh time, told ITV Racing: "I was very impressed with everything she's done there. It was her first run of the year and he only had the two runs late on last year. She was drawn wide, showed good speed to get a position and relaxed. She did everything nice and smoothly, was a bit green at first and I probably got there a bit too early but she showed a very good attitude in the straight. She's an uncomplicated filly with plenty of ability."
Ali Shuffle (right), ridden by Sam James, on the way to winning the CAA Stellar Lily Agnes EBF Conditions Stakes on day of the 2025 Boodles May Festival at Chester Racecourse on Wednesday, May 7 2025 -Credit:PA
Ali Shuffle (5-6 favourite) landed a knockout blow in the opener, the CAA Stellar Lily Agnes EBF Conditions Stakes. Karl Burke's two-year-old brought up a hat-trick of victories to potentially book a trip to next month's Royal Ascot. The speedy daughter of A'Ali had won both her starts so far, being prominent and scoring at Redcar and Beverley last month. And with the plum draw in stall one, under Sam James, Ali Shuffle broke well and led from start to finish for a comfortable success.
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The unbeaten colt scored by a length from Exclamation (14-1) with Italica (40-1) a head back in third.
Liverpool FC fan Burke said: "
Redorange, ridden by Rossa Ryan (left), on the way to winning the Ladbrokes Best Odds Guaranteed On Racing Handicap on day one of the 2025 Boodles May Festival at Chester Racecourse on Wednesday, May 7 2025 -Credit:Nick Potts/PA
Redorange (11-10 favourite) won the Ladbrokes Best Odds Guaranteed On Racing Handicap. Clive Cox's three-year-old was sent off the warm favourite following a fine return to action when third to Queen All Star at Sandown last month. With that run under his belt and from an advantageous draw in stall two Redorange broke well in the five-furlong contest. Sat just off the pace set by Ruby's Profit, under Rossa Ryan, Redorange moved to the outside of the leader after the turn for home before hitting the front. He stayed on well to score by a length from Ruby's Profit with Blinky (12-1) a length-and-three-quarters back in third.
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The majority is expected to be spent on high-revenue generating sports, with most projections estimating 75% of funds will go toward football. So what happens to the non-revenue-generating sports which, outside of football and basketball, is pretty much all of them? It's a query that's top of mind for Ootsburg as she enters her senior year at Belmont, where she competes on track and field team. 'My initial thought was, is this good or bad? What does this mean for me? How does this affect me? But more importantly, in the bigger picture, how does it affect athletes as a whole?' Ootsburg said. 'You look at the numbers where it says most of the revenue, up to 75% to 85%, will go toward football players. You understand it's coming from the TV deals, but then it's like, how does that affect you on the back end?' Ootsburg asked. 'Let's say 800k goes toward other athletes. Will they be able to afford other things like care, facilities, resources or even just snacks?' 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'Talking to my teammates, it's so new, and they see the headlines and they're like, 'Ok, cool, but is someone going to explain this?' because they can read it, but then there's so many underlying factors that go into this. This is a complex problem that you have to understand the nuances behind, and not every athlete truly does.' Some coaches, too, are still trying to understand what's coming. Mike White, coach of the national champion Texas softball team, called it 'the great unknown right now.' 'My athletic director, Chris Del Conte, said it's like sailing out on a flat world and coming off the edge; we just don't know what's going to be out there yet, especially the way the landscape is changing,' he said at the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. 'Who knows what it's going to be?' What about the walk-ons? 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