Aidan O'Brien raises possibility of 'unbelievable' Magical racing on next season

Aidan O’Brien hopes Magical will remain in training next season after the seven-time Group 1 winner finished her season with a third-place finish in the Longines Hong Kong Cup.

The five-year-old globetrotter ran another mighty race but found Japanese pair Normcore and Win Bright too good in the HK$28 million (£2.73 million/€2.92 million) feature on Sunday.

That was Magical's seventh run this year, all of which have come at Group 1 level, where she has won three and finished in the frame on every start.

There is hope that she will continue her racing career into 2021 although no decision has been confirmed by connections.

O'Brien said: "Magical will come back now and we'll have a discussion with the lads to see what they want to do. She would be an unbelievable mare to have for next season.

"She ran another unbelievable race. She was a little bit slowly away and, where Ryan [Moore] was drawn, he had to sit and suffer a little with her. The pace wasn't as strong as she'd have liked. A stronger tempo would have been a big help to Magical as she was coming home very well.

"She looks great after the race and seems to have come up sound, we’ll take her home and make a plan. She's an incredible horse."

Hong Kong Cup result

Normcore was recording the biggest win of her career and the Kiyoshi Hagiwara-trained runner kept on well to strike by three-quarters of a length.

Zac Purton was aboard the winner, with Christophe Soumillon forced to remain on the sidelines after failing to clear all of the strict Covid-19 regulations required to compete.

It is another Group 1 winner Soumillon has missed out on due to Covid-19, as he was unable to partner Order Of Australia and Tarnawa to Breeders' Cup glory in America last month.

Zac Purton, riding his second winner in the Cup, said: "I wouldn't say it was an unexpected result, I knew she had a good chance from a lovely gate. She was a bit keen but she fought well. She had to dig in and she showed heart."

He added: "Now I've won more [Hong Kong] International Races than anybody else so that tops it off."

'He’s going to be a lovely miler next year'

Shock Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Order Of Australia will certainly stay in training next season with O’Brien pinpointing the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot as his likely early-season target.

The three-year-old was an unlucky sixth in the Hong Kong Mile, proving no match for the flawless Golden Sixty who looks a world-class miler for next season.

Hong Kong Mile result

But the lightly raced Order Of Australia, who was rated a 40-1 outsider when leading home stablemates Circus Maximus and Lope Y Fernandez at Keeneland last month, could continue to excel at the top level next season.

O'Brien said: "Things didn't go ideal for him but he still ran very well. We will look at Queen Anne for him next year and maybe run him in something before that. He's going to be a high-summer miler on fast ground."

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