'She's a mile-and-a-half filly really': Aidan O'Brien targeting Arc return for Minnie Hauk after valiant Prince of Wales's Stakes defeat

Click here to add us to your Google preferred sources or find out more here

Minnie Hauk had to settle for second behind Ombudsman in a vintage Prince of Wales's Stakes, but she levelled the score with her Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe conqueror Daryz and her trainer Aidan O'Brien has his sights set on round three in Paris on October 4.

Daryz edged out Minnie Hauk by a head in last season's Arc, but the dual Classic winner was one and three-quarter lengths in front of her old rival on this occasion as she left a lacklustre performance in the Tattersalls Gold Cup in her wake. 

"The last day was a bit unsatisfactory," admitted O'Brien, who felt Minnie Hauk was inconvenienced by sitting off the pace in a slowly run race in Ireland. "We knew what happened but we had to prove it to ourselves and today was lovely." 

The £2 million King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes back at Ascot on July 25 looks the next logical step for the runner-up, but there is unfinished business at Longchamp to attend to come the autumn.

• Brilliant Ombudsman can't run in everything - where the big guns from the Prince of Wales's might go next, and a 12-1 each-way suggestion 

"She's a mile-and-a-half filly really and, if the lads want to, they can bring her back here for the King George," said O'Brien. "We couldn't be happier with her. She's so straightforward and Ryan [Moore] rode her with confidence that there was no doubt about anything today. 

"He said she was travelling away down to the two-furlong marker but the winner had a little bit more pace than her. We couldn't be happier and it's a lovely prep for the King George. We can then look at one more run and then back to the Arc and a mile and a half again."

Daryz chased home Minnie Hauk in third and O'Brien added: "It was a solid mile and a quarter race today. Daryz came to get by her but he didn't. That's good and it's all very positive. The Arc was always at the front of our minds, but it's one step at a time. We're back on the right road now." 

Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Almaqam had to settle for fourth on this occasion, with his trainer Ed Walker hailing the Prince of Wales's the "race of the season".

"He was off the bridle a long way out and I just wonder whether he didn't let himself down quite as much as he would have done on good ground," said Walker. "He can just race a little bit lazily and gives you the indication that a soft-ground ten furlongs or a good-ground mile and a half would suit him. 

"That was a hard race and I think the Eclipse may come too soon, but there will be another big day in him. A race like the Irish Champion Stakes would be perfect."

Read these next . . .

Christophe Soumillon hit with eight-day ban for assisting stablemate Gstaad on outsider in messy St James's Palace Stakes 

'Not one of my finest rides' - How Bow Echo bailed Billy Loughnane out of trouble in a messy St James's Palace 

Bow Echo edges St James's Palace Stakes thriller to maintain unbeaten record for relieved Billy Loughnane 

Sign up to receive On The Nose, our essential daily newsletter, from the Racing Post. Your unmissable morning feed, direct to your email inbox every morning.