By Tom Frary
Entering Wednesday's Listed Cheshire Oaks with great expectations, Ballydoyle's €1.85 million 2023 Goffs Orby Book 1 topper Minnie Hauk duly delivered to enter the Oaks picture.
Sent off the 13-8 favourite for the extended 11-furlong trial for that Epsom Classic, the daughter of Frankel tended to race a touch lazily behind the pace-setter Queen Of Thieves but was able to answer every call from Ryan Moore to take command inside the final three furlongs.
Sticking to her task in the home straight, the relative of Kingman and Oasis Dream had a length to spare over Sea The Moon's Andrew Balding-trained Listed Montrose Stakes runner-up Secret Of Love at the line, with Camelot's Caspi Star another 1 1/4 lengths away in third.
“I was very happy with the filly, as she'd been a little bit behind the others and she needed the experience,” Aidan O'Brien said of the winner, who was blowing hard in the winner's enclosure after her first start since Leopardstown in October. “We sent her over, though, because we think she's got that little bit of quality, so we were very happy to see her do that. We'll have to see what happens in the other trials now, but we ran her today thinking that she would then go on to Epsom.”
Minnie Hauk – who was purchased for €1,850,000 in 2023 – takes the Weatherbys ePassport Cheshire Oaks under Ryan Moore! 🏅
It's a ninth win in the race for Aidan O'Brien… pic.twitter.com/ObHKKSa2uL
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 7, 2025
Multilingual is out of Zamindar's G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Zenda, dam of one of the finest milers of recent times and established sire in the aforementioned Kingman, as well as the G3 Tercentenary Stakes winner Remote also by Dansili and Frankel's First Eleven who was a strong stayer at a mile and a half as he proved when third in the G3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes.
Zenda's daughters Present Tense, Panzanella and Pleasantry and Rio Carnival all proved black-type producers in their own right, with the former's son Macduff by Sea The Stars finishing second in the G3 Sandown Classic Trial and starting last year's Derby as one of the key protagonists. Multilingual's 2-year-old filly is by No Nay Never.
WEATHERBYS EPASSPORT CHESHIRE OAKS-Listed, £120,000, Chester, 5-7, 3yo, f, 11f 75yT, 2:29.15, gd.
1–MINNIE HAUK (IRE), 128, f, 3, by Frankel (GB)
1st Dam: Multilingual (GB), by Dansili (GB)
2nd Dam: Zenda (GB), by Zamindar
3rd Dam: Hope (Ire), by Dancing Brave
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. (€1,850,000 Ylg '23 GOFOR). O-Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-B V Sangster; T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. £68,052. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, $106,176. *1/2 to Tilsit (First Defence), MGSW-Eng, G1SP-Fr, $234,843.
2–Secret Of Love (GB), 128, f, 3, Sea The Moon (Ger)–So In Love (GB), by Smart Strike. O/B-Miss K Rausing; T-Andrew Balding. £25,800.
3–Caspi Star (GB), 128, f, 3, Camelot (GB)–Encapsulation (Ire), by Zoffany (Ire).
1ST BLACK TYPE. (€100,000 Ylg '23 ARAUG). O-Mr Nurlan Bizakov; B-Highview Bloodstock Ltd (GB); T-Charlie Johnston. £12,912.
Margins: 1, 1 1/4, 3. Odds: 1.63, 7.00, 12.00.
Also Ran: That's Amore (Ire), Kate O'Riley (GB), Modern Utopia (Ire), Queen Of Thieves (GB).
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