The most recent of those wins came at Navan just this week, on 11 July 2026, which puts South Island right in the spotlight. Before that, the first career win arrived at The Curragh in late September 2025 — one of Irish racing's most famous venues — and the fact that it has since backed that up with another win shows that performance was no fluke. The six-race recent sequence of 1-5-6-8-1-6 tells its own story: inconsistent in the middle, but bookending those average efforts with two victories. Horses that win on either side of a rough patch are worth following; they tend to know how to find the line when it matters.
South Island is trained by Donnacha Aidan O'Brien at Ballyroe in County Tipperary, a yard that has sent out 31 winners already this season — a serious operation producing results at a consistent clip. The most regular partnership in the saddle is with jockey Gavin Ryan, who has ridden South Island in 6 of its 8 races and steered it to 1 win together, a win rate of around 1 in 6. That's a modest return, but the fact that the team keeps trusting Ryan with the ride suggests there is a settled understanding between horse and rider that matters more than the raw numbers.
At three years old and racing just a day ago, South Island is right in the middle of a busy campaign with momentum behind it. Two wins from the last six races is the kind of form that attracts attention, and with a trainer firing on all cylinders this season, it would be no surprise to see this horse lining up again soon — and competitive when it does.
| Course | Races | Results | Last visited | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Curragh Galloping |
3 | 1 win, 2 other | 23 May | 33.3% |
| Leopardstown Galloping |
3 | 1 second, 2 other | 12 Apr | 0% |
| Navan Galloping |
1 | 1 win | 11 Jul | 100% |
| Tipperary Galloping |
1 | 1 other | 31 Aug | 0% |