Though one would be a fool to think logic played any role in horse racing, it did prove a winner Sunday at Tokyo Racecourse, at least for a colt by that name and those who put their money behind him.
Jockey Yutaka Take rides Logic (center) to victory at the NHK Mile Cup on Sunday.
Logic, a striking dark bay by Agnes Tachyon, topped the all-male field of 3-year-olds by a neck to capture the NHK Mile Cup, with Fine Grain finishing in second place and the Australian-bred Kinshasha no Kiseki following a length and a half later in third.
Breaking from the No. 6 gate as race third pick, Logic, with Yutaka Take up, took a patient position on the rail midpack of the 18-strong field. With 200 meters to go, Logic pulled out from behind the Fuji Kiseki-sired Fine Grain.
From the 100-meter mark the two went neck and neck, with Logic narrowly pulling ahead at the last moment. Take, notching his second grade 1 race in as many weeks, was all smiles as he admitted the winner's circle had seemed rather distant.
"I was a bit surprised," he said of Logic's strong showing. "To be honest, I hadn't been very confident." Top picks Fusaichi Richard and Meiner Scherzi failed to make the board, finishing in sixth and 10th place, respectively.
Logic, owned by Koji Maeda and trained by the Ritto-based Kojiro Hashiguchi, was bred in Hokkaido's Nikappu by Shuichi Takeda.
The win of the Mile Cup, which often determines the year's champion miler, carries a first-place prize money of 92 million yen and brought the colt's earnings to just under 161 million yen, his record to 3 wins in 8 starts.
Logic's clocked 1 minute, 33.2 seconds over the 1,600 meters of turf.