Aidan O'Brien has dominated recent renewals of the Epsom Oaks with six victories from the last eight renewals of the race.
2016 Epsom Oaks
1st – Minding
2nd – Architecture
3rd - Harlequeen
Aidan O'Brien has dominated recent renewals of the Epsom Oaks with six victories from the last eight renewals of the race. The Ballydoyle honour list reveals some familiar names – think Qualify (2015), Forever Together (2018), Love (2020), Snowfall (2021), Tuesday (2022) – but the filly who will remain in everyone's memory is the 2016 winner Minding.
A daughter of Coolmore's champion stallion Galileo and proven Black Type broodmare Lillie Langtry (who would subsequently produce another Oaks winner in Tuesday), Minding was impressive in her juvenile year. Despite two defeats, the filly ended the season with a four-and-a-half length victory in the Group 1 Fillies Mile at Newmarket and would start her three-year-old campaign as favourite for the Classics.
She did not disappoint, returning in the Group 1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and adding another wide-margin Group 1 victory to her tally with a three-and-a-half length success over stable-mate Ballydoyle. Minding looked a sure thing for the Irish equivalent, yet her head second behind Jet Setting was probably one of her better performances as the filly returned to the stables with a six-inch cut on her cheek which was reportedly suffered in the stalls. Minding's full-sister Empress Josephine would gain revenge for the family when taking the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas in 2021.
The defeat did little to quell the excitement ahead of the Oaks and Minding started 10/11 favourite for the Epsom Classic. She was forced to show her courage once again, running out of room turning for home and was struck in the face by a whip from one of the tiring fillies in front of her. Jockey Ryan Moore lunged for a gap on the inside rail and sent the filly flying up the inside, recording a length-and-a-quarter victory at the line.
The first filly to win the Guineas and the Oaks since Kazzia in 2002, Minding added three more Group 1 victories before her retirement in July 2017.
"Minding out-classed them"#FBF to 2016 when 7-time G1 winner Minding (GALILEO) stamped her authority to win the G1 Epsom Oaks completing the Guineas/Oaks double!
— Coolmore (@coolmorestud) June 4, 2021
A Champion at 2 & 3 years Minding is out of top-class racemare Lillie Langtry. #CoolmoreSires #HomeOfChampions pic.twitter.com/kYf1URP1kE
