Boughey has Bow Echo ready for ‘ultimate test’

George Boughey remains confident Bow Echo will pass his “ultimate test” at Royal Ascot on Tuesday, with the 2000 Guineas hero the star name among nine colts confirmed for what promises to be an epic St James’s Palace Stakes.

Three from three as a juvenile last season, the son of Night Of Thunder was among the leading protagonists for the first Classic of the year over the Rowley Mile, but even his trainer admitted to being taken aback by the manner of his runaway success.

In what is shaping up to be one of the races of the week at the Royal meeting, Bow Echo is set to renew rivalry with the Newmarket runner-up and subsequent Irish Guineas winner Gstaad, while French Guineas victor Rayif and Charlie Appleby’s improving Heron Stakes winner Talk Of New York add further strength in depth.

On meeting two other Classic winners, Boughey said during a press event in Newmarket on Wednesday morning: “It’s rare that that happens. There’s often one that goes and gets beat and doesn’t make it to Ascot or there’s a horse that wins both the English and the Irish Guineas. To have Charlie’s horse in there as a fourth string, it makes for a pretty big spectacle on day one.

“It’s the time of the year when the generation is all changing, isn’t it? There’s the Heron winner who was probably not physically ready for the Guineas at that time and there’s a number of horses that will probably be improving, so it’s a case of who is improving the fastest I’d say.”

When asked who he felt was his stable star’s biggest threat, the trainer added: “I think they’ve all got equal chances. Obviously the Irish Guineas winner Gstaad was impressive and it was not unexpected. He probably does have to rate as the main danger.

“He (Talk Of New York) was impressive, there’d been a big wrap on the horse through the spring. I hope they go the gallop they did in the Heron as that would suit us and I think they need to because they need to get their horse to relax.

“The unknown quantity is the French form, but he (Rayif) was good that day and won in gutsy fashion.

“This is the ultimate test really, I think. It’s a track where he (Bow Echo) has never been before and you’ve got the melting pot of the parade ring of Ascot, but he’s always given me incredible confidence regarding his mental constitution for a test like that.”

Ominously for his rivals, Boughey is adamant Bow Echo’s scintillating homework is even better than it was before his Guineas triumph.

He said: “It’s not been the same – he has improved. It was interesting working him on the July course the other day as it was good to soft ground and possibly the softer side of that and I was a bit apprehensive the night before.

“It had rained and we switched his work morning from Tuesday to Friday and he was electric, but he’s now a stronger animal and that allows him to handle slight slower conditions.

“It’s a very hard thing to say having won a Guineas as emphatically as he did, but he is an unbeaten Guineas winner who for me looks like his best days are ahead of him.”

Along with Gstaad Aidan O’Brien has also left in Puerto Rico, fourth in the French Guineas, Flushing Meadows and Neolithic.

Lord Britain, trained by Ismail Mohammed and Power Blue, fourth in the Irish Guineas, complete the list.