Bow Echo building up nicely for Palace showdown

Bow Echo has begun stepping up his work ahead of his all-star rematch with Newmarket runner-up and Irish 2,000 Guineas hero Gstaad at Royal Ascot.

With the mercury rising across Britain, the impressive Classic scorer has been an early riser as George Boughey tunes up his talented colt for a St James’s Palace Stakes already looking the highlight of a mouthwatering opening day to the royal meeting.

“He’s training good and doing everything the right way and we’re very happy with him,” said Boughey.

“He started back galloping early last week and it’s very hot at the moment so he’s training early in the morning. We’re just ticking over really but he will start picking up his work through the next week and he’s right where we want him.”

Bow Echo justified all the pre-Guineas talk when pulling the best part of three lengths clear of Gstaad in the closing stages of the opening Classic of the season – with the chasing pack a further eight lengths adrift of Aidan O’Brien’s subsequent Curragh scorer.

Anticipation is bubbling nicely for the rematch after last year’s Coventry Stakes winner got his own slice of Guineas glory on home soil and with Francis-Henri Graffard’s winner of the French equivalent Rayif also in the mix, the one-mile showpiece will provide Bow Echo with the perfect opportunity to cement his position as the division’s leading name.

“It’s the race we all want to see and hopefully all three Guineas winners get there and it can be a big showdown,” continued Boughey, who was assistant to Hugo Palmer when Galileo Gold did the 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes double 10 years ago.

“Hopefully our horse can show what he did at Newmarket and God willing he gets there in one piece. We’re very happy.”