2000 Guineas preview: "He’s in as good a condition as we could have him"

George Boughey insists he would not swap Bow Echofor any of his rivals ahead of the Betfred 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday, live on Racing TV at 3.35.

Unbeaten in three runs at two, culminating in a victory over Royal Ascot winner Humidity in the Royal Lodge Stakes, Boughey decided against running him in a trial prior to the Classic.

While the ill-fated Dewhurst winner Gewan, Publish, who gave Bow Echo a fright at Haydock, and several others have fallen by the wayside, Bow Echo is still standing – and Boughey says the best is yet to come.

“He just didn’t look like anywhere near the finished article last year and he’s still got a way to go but, in my opinion, he looks much more the horse that we would hope he’d look like now. He’s maturing and he’s only going to mature through the summer,” said the Newmarket handler, who won the 1000 Guineas with Cachet in 2022.

“It’s a 2000 Guineas. It’s a high-quality field with some good horses in there. We wake up every morning and hope that the horse is in good condition because we know how things can happen so quickly.

“It’s been the trials season and there will be horses who will be improving for the run. We are pretty happy with where we were. We were never going to trial the horse and he’s in as good a condition as we could have him.

“He’s been away this year. He went to Kempton to gallop and galloped on the racecourse here in Newmarket. We got his blood up a couple of times – I just didn’t need to trial him and we haven’t.

“It’s a very open race in behind with horses who are improving and we fear everyone, but I wouldn’t swap him.”

Not since Haafhd in 2004 has a Craven Stakes winner followed up in the Guineas, although Field Of Gold came close last year.

John and Thady Gosden’s Oxagon is the latest to attempt the double – in a race Gosden senior has yet to win – and his connections believe he is being underestimated.

Ted Voute, owner Prince Faisal’s racing manager, said: “He doesn’t seem to have got as much credit as I thought he would for a Craven winner going into the Guineas. I think it was said at the time it’s been a long time since a Craven winner has won the Guineas and I guess Mr Gosden hasn’t had a Guineas winner. Maybe that’s what the betting public are thinking.

“He won the Craven very well, he couldn’t have done it better and I think we’ll be there or thereabouts. We’ll see how Aidan’s (O’Brien) have come through the winter and Bow Echo is obviously a big danger, but we’ll see what happens.

“I think after the Dewhurst John Gosden said he’d be a mile-and-a-quarter horse eventually, which will be the French Derby. He’s not in the French Derby, so he’ll need to be supplemented if that was the route he’d go. Let’s see what he does over a mile again and see where he goes, but he’s got an entry in the Irish Guineas and he’s got an entry in the St James Palace.”

Aidan O’Brien’s plans were changed late with Gstaad his sole representative having nominated Puerto Rico as his likely runner in recent weeks. Bookmakers have been reporting heavy support for Gstaad and the Breeders’ Cup hero he will undoubtedly vie with Bow Echo for favouritism on the day.

Charlie Appleby has won three of the last four renewals and this year runs Distant Storm and King’s Trail, with William Buick preferring the more sold claims of the former over the unbeaten in two King’s Trail.

Buick told Sky Sports Racing: “He’s done everything right all winter.

“Maybe we’d have preferred a higher draw (than two), but we’ll just have to see how that pans out.

“When he did look good last year that’s a true reflection of him, when it didn’t work out for him he had legitimate excuses. It’s a good race, it always is.”

Appleby told www.godolphin.com: “Both Distant Storm and King’s Trail go into the race in great shape. Distant Storm has the Dewhurst form, which is always important in the Guineas, and I was pleased with what we saw from his racecourse gallop at the Craven meeting. He has done well since and, based on his two-year-old form, you would hope that he would be right there at the finish.

“King’s Trail also pleased in his racecourse gallop, although his lack of experience on turf is the great unknown, especially jumping up from conditions races to Group One company. I have been very happy with his work at home, while he is the one in the field probably open to the most improvement.”