Few Group One races anywhere can boast as stellar a roll of honour as Thursday’s Pertemps Yorkshire Oaks, for which Aidan O’Brien’s star filly Minnie Hauk is a heavy odds-on favourite.
Already winner of this season’s English and Irish Oaks, Minnie Hauk has only three opponents trying to deny her a notable hat-trick achieved by Snowfall (2021) and the mighty Enable in 2017.
Enable won the Yorkshire Oaks again in 2019, a year before the superb Love beat Alpinista. The latter won it herself in 2022 en route to securing Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe glory. All justified favouritism at cramped odds of varying degrees.
Since then, O’Brien has won twice more with Warm Heart and Content to bring his tally in the race to eight. One more will equal the race record of Michael Stoute and 19th-century training titan Mathew Dawson.
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Only once in the last eight years has the Yorkshire Oaks favourite not won, including Enable twice at 1-4. But those tempted to trade on Minnie Hauk at similar odds might do well to recall how O’Brien’s Tapestry upset the 1-5 Taghroodha in 2014.
Nevertheless, anything but a Minnie Hauk victory will be a shock. Her Ribblesdale-winning stable companion, Garden Of Eden, failed in her own Oaks assignment in Germany earlier this month, while Qilin Queen looks outclassed.
It leaves the grey older filly Estrange as a viable danger. Trained by Fermoy’s own David O’Meara, she landed the Lancashire Oaks at Haydock on her last start. However, very quick ground conditions may not be ideal for her.
Dermot Weld first won York’s Galtres Stakes 13 years ago with Pale Mimosa. In 2019, his subsequent dual Irish Leger heroine Search For A Song was victorious. This time he relies on Alice Monet to leap from claiming company to Listed success.
Admittedly, Alice Monet won a Fairyhouse claimer by 10 lengths last month before picking up a handicap at Leopardstown. She is joined in the race by O’Brien’s Butterfly Wings, fourth to her illustrious stable companion, Minnie Hauk, in the Curragh Oaks last time.
Colin Keane skips York for four rides at Leopardstown’s final summer evening fixture, where he will attempt to close the gap to Dylan Browne McMonagle in the jockeys’ championship.
Browne McMonagle leads Keane by two winners (63-61) and is a 1-2 favourite with Paddy Power to ultimately be crowned champion for the first time in November. However, he is suspended for two days, and Keane (11-8) will also be in action in Killarney on Friday evening.
The reigning champion is on board Nuit for Henry de Bromhead in the featured Listed Vinnie Roe Stakes at Leopardstown. She was last behind Estrange in the Lancashire Oaks.
Galveston is a ratings standout in his first try beyond a mile-and-a-half. Third in Royal Ascot’s King Edward VII, he can be forgiven a poor effort at Goodwood when a deluge turned ground conditions heavy.
The 12-time UAE champion jockey Tadhg O’Shea is also in action at Leopardstown. He rides two for Denis Hogan, including Green Icon, who looked a little unlucky when third at the Curragh on Saturday.
