Aidan O’Brien Urged to Keep Minnie Hauk in Training After Arc Performance

Aidan O'Brien has been urged to keep Minnie Hauk in training after her defeat to Daryz in the Prix De l'Arc De Triomphe at the weekend by the Irish Angle panel.

Speaking on this week's, irishracing.com Irish Angle show, journalist Johnny Ward suggested the three-year-old filly could target the Breeders' Cup next season.

There was little criticism of Minnie Hauk's run at Longchamp and Christophe Soumillon could have done little else.

Arc Tactics Analysed

Former jockey Paddy Flood explained: “I thought it was as good an Arc as I've ever seen — I thought it was a brilliant race.

“Look, you're going to have people saying that if Ryan [Moore] was on Minnie Hauk, she might've won — I don't know.

“She got it so easy in the run, she found it so easy. I was very surprised how well she travelled. Christophe [Soumillon] was able to put her wherever he wanted. He had Wayne [Lordan] outside him minding him, protecting his ground, and she just lobbed to the front on the bridle.

“In an Arc, you're not going to disappoint your horse by taking a pull there when she's going that easily into the front — you take that advantage. I think Christophe did everything he could have to win that. He brought Mickael Barzalona across the track, maybe got a little bump off Daryz, and just couldn't quite beat him.

“The winner is an exceptionally good horse — beautiful looking, beautiful pedigree, a strong colt. I would just say she was just beaten by a superstar and lost nothing in defeat. She's a better filly than I thought she was.”

Racing journalist Johnny Ward agreed with Flood's assertion that Minnie Hauk was well beaten and there was not much more she could have done.

He said: “I've come around to the idea that the best horse won on the day.

“The only thing I'll say is that it would be better off if jockeys knew what the market was beforehand, what's the main danger according to the market because the market is very accurate.

“The market here was very strong on Minnie Hauk, she was the favourite coming into the weekend.

“Maybe Mickael Barzalona thought ‘I'm going to track her' and she gave him a dead aim into the straight. She took it up about 300 meters out, and for a filly who can idle in front, that might've helped him.

“He could come beside her for that run of 50 yards out and she wasn't able to come from behind to tackle him.

“If the race was run tomorrow, I'd not be entirely confident she'd finish second again but having said that, he was only pushed out as well. I think it was a shade cosy for the length that he won.

“Regardless, if you're Aidan O'Brien, who's never won the Arc with a three-year-old filly. She was five-and-a-half lengths clear of everything else. If a storm brews the morning of the race and Daryz doesn't run, she looks like one of the most impressive Arc winners we've seen.

“People might knock the race, but it was a pretty solid Arc — pretty solid horses, last year's form tested and blown away, apart from Sosie.”

Daryz HOLDS OFF Minnie Hauk to take the 2025 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe 🏆

🇫🇷 @mickaelbarzalon @GraffardRacing pic.twitter.com/2n9UvNc78T

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) October 5, 2025

Praise For Graffard

Flood also praised the training of Daryz who had not raced further than a mile and two furlongs before Sunday.

“They ran him over a mile and two last time, and it looked like they were minding him.

“There were gaps for him to win races, but they didn't take them, they pulled him out and let him hit the line strong, and another half-furlong and he'd have won without putting the tact behind the saddle.

“It was a great training performance — and isn't he a trainer on the up?”

What Next For Minnie Hauk

Ward urged O'Brien to keep Minnie Hauk in training for a four-year-old campaign.

He said: “For me, Minnie Hauk — I'd love her to stay in training, I'd love her to go to the Breeders' Cup. I feel she still has so much more to offer.

“She's the first real Frankel superstar Aidan O'Brien's ever had. For a three-year-old filly to run that race — she did everything but win. It was a brilliant, brilliant performance from her.

“I'm sure it was a strange one for Aidan O'Brien because what more can you do? You were just beaten.”

And host Emma Nagle agreed with Ward's assessment, insisting there was still more to come from Minnie Hauk.

She said: “I do hope she stays in training next year.

“She's progressed from run to run. When she won the Cheshire Oaks at the start of the year she wasn't blowing anybody away but every run she's improved.

“You'd imagine there's a whole load left in her for her four-year-old campaign.”

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