Log Out Island

Log Out Island put up a fairly remarkable performance visually in landing the listed three-year-olds’ six-furlong race at Newbury on Saturday.     Smartly into his stride in his first-time hood, he was just allowed jump and run by rider James Doyle. Fully four lengths clear after they had gone a furlong, he had to have been around 10 lengths clear after they had gone two furlongs.  Still on the bridle passing the two-furlong pole as his rivals started to come under pressure behind him, he passed the furlong pole still eight lengths clear, and he just wasn’t for catching.  Remarkable came out of the pack to chase him home and, in closing him to three lengths, came almost four lengths clear of the pack, but, in truth, he was never going to catch him.

There was a sense after the race that James Doyle had stolen the race on Log Out Island, but that is a difficult case to argue. The Godolphin horse showed such blinding pace through the first two furlongs that it would have been very difficult for any of his rivals to lie up with him.  And the fact that he had the race in the bag from about a furlong and a half out, and that he was able to keep going as well as he did, having set those early fast fractions, tells you that he is a talented individual. Also, the winning time was fast, 0.28secs/furlong slower than standard and the fastest comparative time on the day.

We knew that he was talented anyway.  He was a top class juvenile last season, he was only beaten a half a length by Waterloo Bridge in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, and he won the Listed Two-Year-Old Trophy at Redcar on his penultimate run.  A well-beaten last of three on his debut this season, when he was ridden with restraint over seven furlongs, there was a chance that he would have been lost without trace this term, but he was a reformed character on Saturday, fitted with a hood and allowed to jump and run.   Of course, it was a different class of race, but this performance was reminiscent of the performance that Hawk Wing put up in winning the Lockinge Stakes on the same day in 2003.

The main question now, in terms of Log Out Island’s future, is how he reacts mentally to this win. Hawk Wing was beaten in the Queen Anne Stakes, his only other race subsequent to his Lockinge win, but if Richard Hannon can harness Log Out Island’s talent and facilitate him in retaining this mind set, he could be in for a really lucrative time of it. It will probably be a delicate balancing act for the trainer, but Log Out Island may be under-bet next time if there is a weight of opinion against the prospect of him repeating this performance. The Commonwealth Cup is the obvious race for him now at Royal Ascot, and it is in his favour that he won on his racecourse debut at Ascot, and that he ran a fine second to Waterloo Bridge in the Norfolk Stakes at the Royal meeting last year.

14^th May 2016