Trainer and jockey partnership George Boughey and Billy ‘The Kid’ Loughnane rewrote the Classic history books at a sun-bathed Newmarket as the unbeaten Bow Echo stormed to an emotional victory in the Betfred 2,000 Guineas.
Sporting the colours of late owner-breeder Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, the Night Of Thunder colt arrived travelling sweetly at the two-furlong marker under his confident 20-year-old rider and, once the combination had swept past Ryan Moore aboard favourite Gstaad exiting The Dip, they quickened two-and-three quarter lengths clear of the runner-up.
Although Gstaad was no match for the imperious winner, he finished a further eight lengths clear of the Charlie Appleby-trained Distant Storm, partnered by William Buick, while front-runner Into The Sky under Kieran Shoemark led the field until two out before keeping on gamely to finish fourth.
Boughey, who landed the 1,000 Guineas four years ago with Cachet, became the youngest trainer in the post-war era at 34 to complete the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas double, while the presence of Loughnane in the saddle meant the duo were also the youngest aggregate partnership to win the colts’ Classic in the same time frame.
An ecstatic Loughnane was vociferously lauded by a buoyant Newmarket crowd on his return to the winner’s enclosure and, like the trainer, fought to hold back the tears in the fervent post-race scrum.
‘To find a horse like this at 20-years-old is a dream come true, I’ve never had a feeling like that,’ enthused the youngster who was landing the Classic at an even earlier age than the great Lester Piggott managed when he scored in 1957, aged 21.
The unbeaten Bow Echo stormed to an emotional victory in the Betfred 2,000 Guineas
‘He was asleep going in the gates and I was a little worried, but there was more pace in the race than he has had before and he loved that.
‘George (Boughey) has been everything to me since I started, I’ve been riding out for him since I was a 16-year-old 7lb claimer and he’s really pushed me to the next level, what a trainer.’
The victory was the culmination of months of planning by Boughey who was quick to pay tribute to the influence of the star colt’s late owner Sheikh Obaid.
‘It’s quite emotional. It’s very rare you find a horse that trains like him and to have his pedigree to back it up was really what we needed.
‘Sheikh Obaid told me this would be the best horse I have ever trained and he is right. He was a great owner/breeder with a brilliant mind and we miss him. He told me not to run in the Dewhurst last year and it was absolutely the right thing to do.
“The confidence was pretty high but his work suggested that so it was over to Billy to execute a beautiful ride and he did that.
‘I think he is a fast horse that stays, which is obviously a huge asset. He is not a Derby horse, I don’t think, and he is not in the Derby. He is a horse that has always shown a huge turn of foot and I want to make him a champion miler where we can.’
Mark Loughnane, a trainer himself and father of the winning rider, was understandably emotional: ‘This is all down to his dam (mother Clare) not the sire. I was walking my box at 4.30am this morning, but Billy was calm, he’s some man and we’re so proud of him.’
