They had been here before, many times over. This was another Group One, pushing them closer to the magical figure of 150 as a partnership.

Aidan O’Brien, trainer par excellence, had just seen Ryan Moore deliver Minnie Hauk to a thrilling victory in the Betfred Oaks, edging out her stablemate Whirl in a driving finish as hot favourite Desert Flower was left gasping in third. O’Brien’s reaction, however, had a different tone.

‘Thank you,’ O’Brien said to his jockey. ‘You made it happen.’

It was no over embellishment. Moore might have been riding a filly that, according to O’Brien, had made “abnormal improvement” since she her warm-up win at Chester last month but he still needed all his wizardry to get her head in front when it mattered.

Moore is riding in a magical zone that makes you think of peak Kevin De Bruyne at Manchester City, when you knew anything was possible and winning was inevitable. It was a wonderful display, coming hot on the heels of a mighty ride on Jan Breughel in the Betfred Coronation Cup.

‘He is a great fella, no ego at all,’ said O’Brien. ‘He was incredible, really. He can carry horses and he carried them over the line in the last furlong. The filly he was riding is very classy and she will be comfortable in all the top races.’

Given the way O’Brien spoke, you immediately started to think she will be a huge player in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. His tone changes and his words become quicker when he is excited about a horse on an upward curve and Minnie Hauk absolutely fitted into this mould.

She travelled powerfully behind Whirl, who set an unforgiving pace under Wayne Lordan, the purple-and-white silks of Derrick Smith and Minnie Hauk’s big white face always catching your eye. William Buick, desperate to follow up his 1000 Guineas success on Desert Flower, tried to cover all moves.

‘It suited fillies with stamina and the winner has stamina in spades,’ said Buick, who feared his petrol tank might empty in the closing stages. ‘Desert Flower did everything right and she probably didn't quite get the trip. The last furlong was a long one for her.’

It wasn’t for Moore. When he drives his mount to the front in a Championship race, he rarely – if ever – gets pegged back and while Whirl snapped and harried with terrier-like persistence, the 41-year-old arms pumped like pistons and success was noisily acknowledged in the stands.

‘She's still learning a little bit,’ Moore said.’ Aidan had a lot of faith in her. She travelled around strongly and I got to her quite easy then she was a little green in front. When the other filly came back, she went on again. She's talented. I’m very happy with her and hopefully she’ll build on this.’

You can be sure she will. O’Brien talked about her going onto contest the Irish Oaks and the Yorkshire Oaks but what a thrill it would be to see Minnie Hauk in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot; with all the weight-and-age allowances she would receive, would they catch her?

‘I was delighted with this filly and she's very classy,’ said O’Brien. ‘She was just ready to run at Chester and she made improvement from that. Ryan gave her a beautiful ride and she’s a very exciting filly. She will be comfortable in all those races against the older horses.’

Of Jan Brueghel’s success, secured when Moore repelled the challenge of Mikael Barzalona on Calandagan, O’Brien added: ‘When Mikael came alongside him in slow motion, we were never going to be beaten. Ryan made it a brawl and brought him to his knees.

‘We want to run Jan Brueghel in the Melbourne Cup last year. He was the biggest certainty for that race there has ever been but (he couldn’t run due to a vet’s inspection) we won’t go there! There’s loads of options for him.’

This, of course, is all ahead of Delacroix’s attempt to give O’Brien his 11th victory in the Derby. O’Brien also runs The Lion In Winter, a brilliant ride to get for Colin Keane, and Lambourn, who like Minnie Hauk was successful at Chester.

‘We won’t look too far ahead,’ said O’Brien with a smile and relieved puff of the cheeks. ‘Let’s just make sure we wake up in the morning.’