Mackinnon Mission for Magic Hurricane and Contributer

Time/Date - 15.05hrs local time/Saturday, October 31, 2015
Racecourse/Country - Flemington/Australia
Surface/Distance - Turf/2000m

The high-class Godolphin runners Contributer (pictured) and Magic Hurricane will be out to register their seasonal best performances in the G1 LKS Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington on Saturday October 31.

Contributer (John O'Shea/James McDonald) comes to the Mackinnon at the end of a preparation that has been frustrated by firm tracks and an abrupt end to his previous campaign.

But trainer John O'Shea says he was encouraged by the most recent of the six-year-old's runs when fifth to Criterion in the G1 Caulfield Stakes.

"He travelled the best of any horse in the run but in the end he felt the ground," O'Shea said.

"It was the happiest I've been with him and he only needs to make a small improvement on that run to be right in the mix here."

Contributer proved one of the stars of last Autumn in Sydney when he won two G1 races and a G2 and was the nominal choice for the rich G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes when he suffered a leg injury that ended the campaign.

As a result he had a longer break than was ideal.

"For a horse of his age to have two or three months off as he did has meant that it's taken a lot longer to get him as fit as I would have liked," O'Shea said.

"I haven't had the luxury of being able to work him hard."

Magic Hurricane (John O'Shea/Opie Bosson) scored Godolphin's second Australian G1 win of the season when he took out the 2400m Metropolitan Handicap at Randwick earlier
this month.

That was his third success in Australia, the son of Hurricane Run having won twice in England before being exported.

O'Shea acknowledged he faced a challenge in bringing Magic Hurricane back from the distance of the Metropolitan to the 2000m of Saturday's race.

But he says he has a horse who makes it possible.

"It's a challenge for sure, but he's had a few weeks between his runs and he's in good order," he said.

"But he's also a very good horse and I've got no reason to think he can't do it."

O'Shea is also keen to give Magic Hurricane his chance in the Mackinnon to assess him for an Autumn mission over the same course and distance in the Australian Cup.

Among those opposed to the Godolphin pair are four horses who ran in last weekend's G1 Cox Plate, including the French runner Gailo Chop.