Flat racing genius Aidan O’Brien has dropped a major hint about Ryan Moore’s ride in the £550,000 Betfred Oaks at Epsom.
Cheshire Oaks heroine Minnie Hauk, wide margin Lingfield trial winner Giselle and Musidora titleholder Whirl are the three fillies going to post for Ballydoyle on Friday.
O’Brien, speaking in a press call hosted by racecourse owners The Jockey Club, said he expects Moore to partner the first-named contender.
“I would imagine it would probably be Minnie Hauk,” the trainer said when asked about which horse the number one rider is likely to pick.
“But that could change if he changes his mind tomorrow.
“We liked her last year. She had two runs, won second time. She’s a lovely straightforward filly.
“We think she has come forward loads from Chester. She was just ready to start and we had to get a run into her somehow before the Oaks and that suited her perfect.
“We knew it wouldn’t be too demanding on her and she would have learned plenty. She came out of Chester really well and we have been very happy with her since.
“She’s good natured, a good traveller and shows plenty of pace in her half-speed.”
Minnie Hauk is 5-1 second favourite with William Hill, who have shortened Desert Flower to 6-5 ahead of her bid for the 1,000 Guineas and Oaks double.
The Leeds firm go 7-1 about Giselle, with Wayne Lordan and Colin Keane in the frame for the horses Moore turns down – and the same arrangement is planned for the Derby on Saturday.
O’Brien said that he is likely to keep headgear on Giselle, as a result of what he has seen in her home work.
“She was probably very underdone fitness wise at Lingfield, we were just hoping to get her started and go from there,” he added.
“We were delighted with the way she has won but she has come forward a lot from there we think.
“We have been able to train her a little bit more aggressively so it’ll be interesting.
“We thought we might be able to run her without the hood and we left it off her yesterday morning and she was a little bit keen so we put it back on and she will probably will run with it.”
