Legacy Isle to play stalker in Chris Armond Memorial

LEGACY ISLE, this year’s Gold Cup winner and two-time Mouttet Mile runner-up, reverts to his comfort zone, sprinting against four rivals in Saturday’s Christopher Armond Memorial at five and a half furlongs.

Armed with a record of five wins from nine starts locally, LEGACY ISLE’s tactical speed makes him the country’s most versatile runner, up to middle-distances, as he proved when winning the Gold Cup ahead of RIDEALLDAY, who returned to turn the tables a furlong longer in the Mouttet Mile.

Reporting with topweight 126lb, the weight he carried in his first six races before winning the Gold Cup with 123lb, LEGACY ISLE should stalk fellow Americans PACK PLAYS, DOTHRAKI, and DESERT OF MALIBU.

Having showed superior speed by swatting both PACK PLAYS and DOTHRAKI off the lead in the Mouttet Mile, DESERT OF MALIBU should be the five-year-old’s only concern.

However, DESERT OF MALIBU, who was caught stealing home in the Bruceontheloose Sprint by Florida invader OF A REVOLUTION, has had two unpleasant encounters with LEGACY ISLE, finishing down the track on both occasions.

Sent off at odds of 7-2 in last year’s Mouttet Mile after romping the Port Royal Sprint a month earlier, DESERT OF MALIBU was taken in hand by Raddesh Roman when the cavalry charge started leaving the three-pole.

In receipt of 11lb from LEGACY ISLE in this year’s Gold Cup, DESERT OF MALIBU was left standing when a five-furlong split of 58.4 coming off the home turn.

PACK PLAYS and DOTHRAKI will be leaving skid marks down the backstretch, not the most comfortable of situations for DESERT OF MALIBU, which should leave LEGACY ISLE the job of putting the finishing touches on the Chris Armond in the stretch run.