Mackinnon Stakes favourite Armory has been ruled out of contesting the race with the stable deciding to take the horse to Hong Kong this week.
The Cox Plate runner-up Armory will not have another run in Australia with the horse to be transported to Hong Kong on Wednesday despite bookmakers installing him as the favourite for the $2m Mackinnon Stakes on Saturday.
“He worked yesterday – his first piece back since the Cox Plate – and Aidan rang this morning and said that he thought that he would bring him home and then take him to Hong Kong.
“Aidan thinks he’s a very good horse. He’s an honest horse and he ran so well on soft ground. He came out of the race really and he’d have a great chance in other races but the MacKinnon probably was on Aiden’s plan, he was open minded, but he also had Magic Wand for it.
“There’s no injury concerns, the horse is ‘grand’.”
