Juddmonte Irish Oaks: can Minnie Hauk make it a Classic double?

It may come as a surprise, but Aidan O’Brien has ‘only’ landed the Epsom/Irish Oaks double on two occasions, with Alexandrova and Snowfall, and up until 2006 he had never won the fillies’ Classic at The Curragh.

Fast forward to 2025 and he has now won the Irish Oaks  seven times and it would take a brave person to bet against him landing an eighth on Saturday, as he is responsible for two-thirds of the field at this stage, including Oaks heroine Minnie Hauk, who heads the betting at 1-3, as well as Oaks runner-up Whirl, a doubtful runner, who is available at  5-1.

Over the past 20 years, half of the Oaks winners at Epsom have lined up at the Curragh for the Irish equivalent, and half of that number have won, with two finishing second.

Between 2006 and 2013, every Epsom heroine bar Look Here in 2008 (who still lined up at the Curragh, in the Pretty Polly Stakes) took part in the Irish Oaks, with three winning.

However, this decade, only Snowfall in 2021 has attempted the double. She won both by a cumulative 24 and a half lengths, before again winning another Oaks easily, this time the Yorkshire version.

The following year, Epsom winner Tuesday finished fourth in the Irish Derby, while Soul Sister was beaten in  the Grand Prix de Paris and last year’s victrix Ezeliya never ran again.

Indeed, none of the past three Oaks winners managed to score again in Europe.

As the table above also shows, half of the ten Oaks winners in the last two decades to have lined up in the Irish version have been sent off favourite. The four sent off at Evens or shorter all won, with just Light Shift, the 9-4 favourite, being beaten.

There is nothing between the top two in the betting on ratings, but then Whirl won the Pretty Polly Stakes over the 118-rated Kalpana last month, while Minnie Hauk has not been seen since Epsom victory, so that is hardly surprising.

There is every chance the more lightly-raced Minnie Hauk will also take another step forward, and she is by far the more likely runner anyway.

One of the most fascinating runners, should she line up, is O'Brien's Bedtime Story. The daughter of Frankel won her first four starts last year and was a nine and a half-length winner of the Chesham Stakes, but since that sequence of wins, has failed to add to her tally.

However, she posted a career-best when stepped up to an extended mile and a quarter in the French Oaks last time, where she found only Gezora too strong, and it will be interesting to see how she fares upped another furlong and a half if she takes her chance. She is chalked up at 13-2.

Joseph O'Brien's Wemightakedlongway (8-1) may also bid for Classic redemption on Saturday. She finished fourth at Epsom and again filled that spot in the Pretty Polly Stakes, so has work to do with the two protagonists.

Last year's Irish Oaks winner, the Ralph Beckett-trained You Got To Me, was fourth at Epsom and fourth in the Ribblesdale before winning the Irish Classic.

There are also several Aidan O'Brien-trained fillies that have been beaten on the Downs before winning the Irish Oaks.

His most recent Irish Oaks heroine Savethelastdance was second at Epsom, Seventh Heaven finished sixth before winning the Irish version, Moonstone was third at Epsom before breaking her maiden at The Curragh on her fourth start, and Peeping Fawn was second to Light Shift before reversing that form to win in Ireland, plus she won the Pretty Polly Stakes for good measure in between.

With a few exceptions, it is also noticeable that the vast majority of O'Brien's Irish Oaks winners were experienced coming into the race.

Three of his seven winners had ran at least seven times before, and of his Irish Oaks winners so far, only Moonstone had fewer runs coming into the race than Minnie Hauk.