Minnie Hauk completes Classic double with Irish Oaks win

RTÉ News​

19-07-2025

It may have been more solid than spectacular, but Minnie Hauk eventually wore down Wemightakedlongway to avoid a shock and double her Classic tally in the Juddmonte Irish Oaks at the Curragh.
The Frankel filly got the better of stablemate and subsequent Pretty Polly Stakes winner Whirl when landing the Oaks at Epsom in early June and was a prohibitively-priced 2-11 favourite to follow up against six rivals in the Irish equivalent.
Settled in third for much of the mile-and-a-half contest, with fellow Aidan O'Brien-trained runner Island Hopping deployed in a pacesetting role and Oaks and Pretty Polly fourth Wemightakedlongway splitting the pair in second, Minnie Hauk was under pressure to close the gap with two furlongs to go.
Joseph O'Brien's Wemightakedlongway proved a willing adversary, but the red-hot favourite eventually took her measure and passed the post a length and a quarter in front under Ryan Moore to give O'Brien his eighth Irish Oaks success.
Royal Ascot heroine True Love showed her male counterparts the way home with a scintillating display in the GAIN Railway Stakes at the co Kildare venue.
Aidan O'Brien had saddled 14 previous winners of the Group Two contest, with Rock Of Gibraltar (2001), George Washington (2005) and last year's victor Henri Matisse (2024) among them, and it was significant his chief hope this time around was the sole filly in a field of four.
Having filled the runner-up spot on her first two starts, True Love (1-2 favourite) was an impressive winner of the Queen Mary Stakes and followed up in fine style, travelling strongly under Ryan Moore before quickening five lengths clear of stable Puerto Rico with the minimum of fuss.
Arizona Blaze secured the biggest victory of his career to date in the Barberstown Castle Sapphire Stakes.
Adrian Murray's charge has run a number of excellent races in top-class company, finishing on the podium in the Norfolk Stakes, Railway Stakes, Phoenix Stakes and at the Breeders' Cup last season, while just last month he finished a neck second to Time For Sandals in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.
Also a dual Group Three winner, the Amo Racing-owned Arizona Blaze was a 9-4 joint-favourite for this Group Two assignment and having been positioned on the front end from the start David Egan, he finished off strongly to deny Ed Walker's hat-trick-seeking British raider Mgheera by two lengths.
Amo Racing supremo Kia Joorabchian said: "We've had a tough time at the Curragh. This guy deserved a big win, to be honest.
"He's been second in a Breeders' Cup and second in a Group One at Royal Ascot, this was a well-placed race for him.
"The ground was going a little bit softer than he'd like it because he likes really quick ground, but he just handled it very well.
"He's never run a bad race really. Adrian and Robson (Aguiar) have done an amazing job with him in the past two years.
"I probably have to thank Aidan (O'Brien) for not running a horse in this race!"
He added: "The entire team at Amo, whether it's in the UK or here, needed this little boost. We've had a little bit of a tough start to the season, but it's been good.
"You're in sport and I've been in sport all my life. Unfortunately in football it happens as well. You're going up for a big Champions League game and you get a hamstring, a knock or something goes wrong. You have to cope with those kind of moments and suck it in.
"This year we've had a very big investment in Freemason Lodge and a very big investment across the globe. That investment has to still show itself.
"We've had so many injuries this year - one after the other. We had a massive setback just recently with Ghostwriter, who unfortunately had an injury."