The unbeaten 3YO sensation this year in Europe, Night of Thunder colt Bow Echo has suffered a setback in training with his trainer George Boughey announcing his superstar will be retired to stud undefeated.
Boughey issued the following statement.
“It is with great disappointment that we have to announce that Bow Echo has had a setback and will be retired from racing.
“It has been the honour of a lifetime to train a horse like Bow Echo. He has given us some extraordinary days and taken everyone involved on a journey we will never forget. To retire unbeaten, having won the 2000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes and Sussex Stakes says everything about what an exceptional racehorse he has been.
“Bow Echo’s remarkable story began with his owner-breeder, the late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid and it is a great sadness that he was not here to see what a lifetime of breeding was able to produce. Bow Echo’s unbelievable constitution and extraordinary ability have set him apart.
“We will all miss seeing him at home and on the racecourse but we are incredibly excited for his next chapter and in time, to see a new generation of his progeny on the racecourse.”
Further details will be announced in due course.
Bow Echo started three times at two and then three more times this year all in G1 races and Billy Loughnane has ridden him in every race.
“Bow Echo has been the most unbelievable racehorse and has given me days in the saddle that I could only ever have dreamed of. To ride a horse like him at this stage of my career, and to win the 2000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes and Sussex Stakes together, is something incredibly special.
“I can’t thank George and the whole team enough. George has trained him to perfection throughout his career and I feel incredibly lucky to have been Bow Echo's jockey in all six of his starts.
“Of course it’s disappointing that we won’t see him on the racecourse again, but he retires unbeaten having done everything that was asked of him. It has been a privilege to ride him and he’ll always mean a huge amount to me.”
With his flawless race record and fascinating pedigree, Bow Echo has earned comparisons to the mighty Frankel, another unbeaten champion on the track that has gone on to be a champion sire.
Bow Echo is the first winner for Aristocratic Lady, a winning half-sister by Invincible Spirit to Group III winner Royal Rhyme and stakes-winner Victor Harbour from stakes-placed Dubai Queen, a half-sister to legendary sire Dubawi.
One of 13 Group I winners for outstanding sire Night of Thunder, Bow Echo has an intriguing double cross of Dubawi’s dam, the Group I winner Zomaradah 3 x 3, which will excite the pedigree gurus.
