Aidan O'Brien's world champion filly Minnie Hauk is Royal Ascot-bound after making a winning start to her four-year-old campaign on Monday.
Impressive Return at the Curragh
Minnie Hauk was ranked the best female racehorse in the world in 2025 at the end of a season in which she won three Oaks, at Epsom, the Curragh and York before finishing a head second in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Her Coolmore connections resisted the temptation to retire her for breeding after she ended the year with a below-par effort in the Breeders' Cup Turf in the US.
She returned to action for the first time since her sixth place in California in the Group 2 Mooresbridge Stakes at the Curragh, run in honour of the late Clem Murphy, a senior member of the Coolmore operation up to his death aged 75 in March last year.
Ridden by Ryan Moore, the 4-6 favourite completed a straightforward victory over frontrunning stablemate Edward Hamilton, winning by a length and a quarter.
O'Brien's Delight
O'Brien said: "Clem was a special man and he was in control today. It was a lovely start back for Minnie Hauk with a view to coming back to the Tattersalls Gold Cup. We had the option of going to France for the Prix Ganay last week but John [Magnier] said this was the right thing to do and it was."
"It was a lovely race, perfect, everything went well. She relaxed lovely. She was just ready to come racing and I couldn't be happier. She travelled with all the zest we saw last year and won very snug."
He continued: "The first three runs were either here or France, then come back for the Tattersalls and if that went well she'd go to Ascot for the Prince of Wales. We were thinking of keeping her at 1m2f for the first three runs anyway."
Other Winners for O'Brien
Fresh off winning an eight 1,000 Guineas with True Love on Sunday, O'Brien also won a 1m Listed race with Causeway at the Curragh and a Group 3 prize at Chantilly with Hawk Mountain.
He said Causeway could now head to the Irish 2,000 Guineas while Hawk Mountain could run in the French Derby, the Prix du Jockey Club.
Other Classic hopefuls will contest trials during the three-day Chester meeting, which starts on Wednesday, where he will also give last year's Derby winner Lambourn his first run of the year in the Ormonde Stakes.
