Minnie Hauk swoops to give O'Brien record-equalling ninth Yorkshire Oaks victory

Yahoo

4 hours ago

Minnie Hauk gave trainer Aidan O'Brien a record-equalling ninth victory in the Yorkshire Oaks, the feature race on the second day of the Ebor meeting at York on Thursday.
Ryan Moore eased Minnie Hauk to a 3 1/2 length win to complete a sweep of the Epsom/Irish and Yorkshire Oaks, a feat achieved by, among others, the legendary two-time Arc de Triomphe winner Enable in 2017.
The champion filly's performance was appositely watched by Queen Camilla, who came down to the winners' enclosure, patted Minnie Hauk on the nose and had her photograph taken with the winning connections before doing the presentation.
"She is beautiful," said O'Brien, who also did the Oaks sweep with Snowfall (2021) and Alexandrova (2006).
"Ryan chatted to the owners after the race and mentioned the Arc but there is also Whirl who could go for it as she likes soft ground and Minnie Hauk for the Breeder's Cup Turf.
"She is classy. The better the race, the better she is.
"We are honoured Her Majesty came over and appeared in the picture," added the 55-year-old Irishman.
For Moore it was his fifth win in the race.
"She is a straightforward filly and her record indicates how classy she is," said the 41-year-old Englishman.
"She does not do a lot when she hits the front but she does what you ask her to do."
Earlier, Royal Fixation and American Queen justified their being joint favourites as they battled it out for the honours in the opening race the Group Two Lowther Stakes.
It was William Buick who prevailed on Royal Fixation to give trainer Ed Walker successive victories in the two-year-old fillies race.
"She is not very big but has a big heart. I wanted to put it right today as I felt we should have won at Newmarket last time," said Buick.
"Hard to say if she will kick on next year. She is very good now, though."
- 'Magic touch' -
Walker, hailed as a "great trainer" by George Gill the director of winning syndicate Opulence Thoroughbreds who added it was a "dream come true", said he had been worried at halfway but her acceleration had been amazing.
"This was a massive performance," said 41-year-old Walker.
"I think the logical step is to move up a notch and go for the Group One Cheveley Park next time."
Clive Cox went one better than Walker in winning the Harry's Half Million for a third consecutive time.
Rossa Ryan brought home Song of the Clyde to secure his owner's Middleham Park Racing syndicate the princely sum of £338,000 ($454,000).
"He was the perfect candidate to come here. I was even able to take a breather with two furlongs to go," said Ryan.
"I really enjoyed this one, winning it on a syndicate horse is extra special as so many people will enjoy it."
Cox could barely believe he had struck gold for a third time.
"Someone gave me the statistics of winning three in a row and it is beyond belief," grinned Cox.
"It is thrilling. We made an awful lot of people happy today and that is always rewarding."
Syndicate manager Tom Palin, who said 12 members had shares in the winner, commented that the victory was not unexpected.
"Clive is a genius, he has a magic touch and in this race he is a master," said Palin.
George Chaloner, who rode over 200 winners on the flat before injury ended his career, is lead horseman at York.
Normally in the background, his heroics in saving a young boy from drowning last week at Filey Bay, Yorkshire, thrust him into the spotlight.
"You just have to get on with it," said the 33-year-old matter of factly.
"You just hope that if it was one of your kids, somebody else would do it for them."
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