Aidan O’Brien teed up perfectly for the Betfred Epsom Derby with Oaks glory for Minnie Hauk on Friday, a success that also completed a Group One double for jockey Ryan Moore.
After Moore on Jan Brueghel upset Calandagan in the Coronation Cup, Minnie Hauk delivered O’Brien a remarkable 11th Oaks success when beating her stable companion Whirl.
The Irish trainer made history in 2012 when completing the Oaks, Coronation Cup, Derby hat-trick and will try to pull off the same feat on Saturday. He is represented by his trio of Delacroix, The Lion In Winter and Lambourn in the colts’ classic.
It was O’Brien’s 46th English Classic and the Ballydoyle team outpointed their Godolphin rivals, whose hot favourite Desert Flower looked all at sea on the Epsom contours before staying on to finish third.
Minnie Hauk made “abnormal” progress from her previous Chester success according to her trainer and at one point looked likely to win with authority.
However, after hanging down the camber, her comparative inexperience allowed Whirl to rally. Wayne Lordan had been keen to make the running on his mount and she showed admirable resolution to make her stable companion fight hard for a neck success.
“She’s a very classy filly. She was just ready to run at Chester, she barely made it, but she made abnormal improvement from Chester, which we thought she might – it was all class rather than stamina or fitness, she just has a lot of class,” O’Brien said.
“Whirl ran a great race, she stays, she’s by Wootton Bassett and it is very unusual what they are doing, they are speed horses but a lot are staying as well. She was fighting back again at the line, that’s incredible really,” he added.
Jan Brueghel progressed to Classic success in last year’s St Leger and although he lost his unbeaten record over an inadequate trip on his seasonal reappearance it set him up ideally for more top-flight success here to earn O’Brien a 10th success in the race.
The French star Calandagan got a perfect tow into the final furlong but couldn’t overhaul his Irish rival, who rallied to win by half-a-length on the easy ground conditions.
“He was unbeaten last year and he was the biggest penalty kick ever in the Melbourne Cup, but didn’t get to run [after failing a pre-race veterinary test in Australia],” O’Brien said.
“At Group One level he is a mile-and-a-half-plus horse and he’s a very tough horse who would still be unbeaten if I hadn’t run him at the Curragh,” he added.
The international weekend Classic action finishes minutes into Sunday morning in upstate New York as the final leg of the US Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, takes place in Saratoga.
With Belmont Park still being redeveloped, its most famous race has been moved again, and the result is a drop in trip to 10 furlongs to suit Saratoga’s layout.
The race off just after midnight on Saturday (12.04am Irish-time) sees the first three from the Kentucky Derby – Sovereignty, Journalism and Baeza – renew rivalry.
In the interim since Churchill Downs, Journalism has won the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, the second leg of the Triple Crown, a race bypassed by Sovereignty to wait for the Belmont.
