George Boughey has further reflected on the life-changing experiences provided by Bow Echo (Night Of Thunder) following the retirement of the unbeaten colt on Tuesday due to an injury to his left fore fetlock.
Speaking on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast on Wednesday morning, Boughey said, “I've been very lucky in a short space of time to have trained a few Group 1 horses. To have had that feeling, that high, and that sense of satisfaction for myself, but also for all our team, to find those horses, it's euphoric.
“After you've had those great horses, you're always searching for the next one. I didn't think a horse like Bow Echo would come along quite so soon. He has been the horse of a lifetime and to me the complete racehorse.”
Boughey added of the injury which brought the curtain down on Bow Echo's career, “It was obviously upsetting news yesterday for a lot of people – he's captured the imagination. I think, fundamentally, we just wanted to touch base to show that he is absolutely fine, really. He had a minor setback into what we hoped was his last piece of work going into Deauville [for the Prix Jacques le Marois].
“The process these high-level horses go through means that he is trotted up before and after every piece of work. He showed a very, very low grade lameness, which meant that we X-rayed him, just to make sure that he was okay, and there was a slight change there.
“I do everything in the best interests of the horse to stop an injury that could be catastrophic happening. I'm looking at the horse now in his box on the camera and he's eaten up, he's basically sound and in very good spirits. It's all very upsetting, but he's been a star.”
Bow Echo retires unbeaten in six career starts and having registered a hat-trick of Group 1 victories this season, becoming the first horse since Frankel in 2011 to win the 2,000 Guineas, St James's Palace Stakes and Sussex Stakes.
Boughey revealed that it is the timing of the injury that has denied Bow Echo the opportunity to add to that tally, with there being every chance that the son of Night Of Thunder would have raced again had it happened earlier in the summer.
He added, “Timing is everything with horses. It's a short window these horses race and, if he was to have the time off that he needs to get him back to the track, he very easily could race again. Even if it had happened around Royal Ascot time, there would be a distinct possibility that he'd be able to run at the end of the year, so it is just timing.
“The call was made by Godolphin and us that it's too high risk to race him on as a four-year-old and we just basically ran out of time. I think it was very much the right decision for everyone and I'm just very much looking forward to preparing the horse to be a stallion at the end of the season.”
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