Outstanding mare Magic Wand has been retired by connections after suffering a foot abscess ahead of a second tilt at the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes in Australia.
The five-year-old had been a late scratch from last weekend’s Cox Plate because of the issue and Aidan O’Brien’s team in the country have been unable to drain the abscess this week.
O’Brien’s travelling foreman, TJ Comerford, told Racing.com: “She got a foot abscess and it’s one of those we can’t get at. We can’t do anything about it, we’re trying to draw it out, but it doesn’t seem to want to release and we’re thinking it will burst out of the coronary band. It’s just bad luck as she was going to run a good race.
“We thought she was back to her best, but that’s the end of her now. She’s going to be retired and go to stud. She’s a very good filly. I suppose the highlight of her career was winning here last year in the Mackinnon after running in the Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup.
“It’s unlucky for her that it’s finished like this, but we’ll take her home and have a very good broodmare.”
Bred by Ecurie des Monceaux and Skymarc Farm, Magic Wand is out the Dansili mare Prudenzia and is closely related to Irish Oaks heroine Chicquita and was purchased for €1.4 million at the Arqana August Yearling Sale in 2016.
She more than rewarded that investment with wins in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2018 and last year’s edition of the Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington. Her final win came in the Group 2 Lanwades Stud Stakes at the Curragh in June.
