GOOD though Japan’s win in the International Stakes was, it can be argued that there was an even better time performance elsewhere on York’s Wednesday card, courtesy of Logician, who defended his unbeaten record in style in the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes a bit earlier.

Logician looked as if he might be in a battle for a few strides around the three-furlong marker, but he took off thereafter, running the final stanza in about 34.66s by my reckoning, which was 0.18s quicker than Constantinople managed in vain pursuit and 0.61s (nearly four lengths) faster than Japan managed at a shorter distance a bit later on.