The fourth Irish Classic race of the season gets underway this weekend, as The Curragh hosts another one of its premier festivals – the Irish Oaks weekend.
Sixteen scheduled races attribute to a weekend that is highlighted by the running of the (Group One) Irish Oaks.
It will run on Day One of the meeting, on a card featuring three Group Two contests, with a mile and four furlongs of the Iconic Curragh Racecourse lying in-wait.
The race is the Irish equivalent of The Oaks, which is run at Epsom as part of their Derby meeting.
Minnie Hawk
This year, trainer Aidan O’Brien will hope that his filly Minnie Hawk can become the first to win both the Epsom Oaks and Irish Oaks in the same year, since 2021.
Snowplay was the last to do so, winning both races for O’Brien that season.
It is likely that she will go off the short-priced favourite, after it was confirmed that her main market rival Catalina Delcarpio won’t run – though ante-post markets suspended.
Minnie Hawk will also miss out on a rematch with Godolphin-trained, 1000 Guineas winner, Desert Flower, as she has also been ruled out of contention.
“She (Minnie Hawk) is on course for the Curragh, and everything has gone well since Epsom so far,” Ballydoyle trainer O’Brien confirmed on Sunday.
The filly has won three of her four career starts and is looking to claim a hat-trick of Oaks wins, also winning the Cheshire Oaks before her Epsom triumph later this year.
Other Runners for O’Brien
O’Brien also saddles Ballydoyle team-mates Bedtime Story and Whirl, who aid his chances at claiming an eighth win in this race.
The former won her first four career starts, including a Group Two contest, at this course, back in August.
Her last three runs have come in France, first at Longchamp where – either side of a break – she was unplaced in two Group Ones.
In her latest run she finished second in a Group One at Chantilly, when upped in trip to a mile and two furlongs.
Whirl, meanwhile, won the Pretty Polly Stakes on her latest outing.
It was the second of two victories this season and followed her second-placed effort (behind Minnie Hawk) in the Epsom Oaks.
Other Horses
Other horses that still hold an entry into the race include Wemightakedlongway and Subsonic, both of which represent challengers to O’Brien.
A record of two wins from seven races is held by the former, with overlapping form with Minnie Hawk included.
The pair first met at Cork last year, with the Joseph Patrick O’Brien-trained horse the victor, though Minnie Hawk reversed the form at Epsom.
Wemightakedlongway also clashed with Whirl when finishing fourth in the Pretty Polly Stakes.
Subsonic, however, is very lightly-raced, having only been seen twice at a racecourse – the first of which was when she was beaten into second by Minnie Hawk, at Leopardstown.
She will arrive here off the back of a sub-par seasonal reappearance in April, though her stable is in fine-form, with trainer Johnny Murtagh seeing 11 of his last 14 runners place – five of which won.
How to watch the Irish Oaks Festival on TV
Racing TV will broadcast all the action from the festival on their TV channel and via their online streaming services.
The 2025 Irish Oaks is due off at 3:40pm, on Saturday, July 19.
By Callum Close
READ MORE: Irish Oaks Festival 2025 – Dates, how to watch on TV, trainers and jockeys to watch
