The son of a Dorset farmer, George Boughey is a recent addition to the training roster, having been granted a licence as recently as July, 2019, at the age of 27. However, prior to setting up on his own at Saffron House Stables, on the Hamilton Road in Newmarket, he had acquired a thorough grounding in the fundamentals of training. After spells with Gai Waterhouse and Lloyd Williams in Australia, he joined Hugo Palmer, with whom he spent six years as assistant trainer.
Starting out with just four horses, Boughey saddled just two winners in 2019, but increased his winning tally to 26 in 2020, at a healthy 20% strike rate. At the time of writing, he has already saddled 40 winners in 2021, at an even healthier 27% strike rate, and currently lies sixteenth in the trainers’ championship, with over £310,000 in earnings.
So far, Boughey has saddled just one Listed winner, Mystery Angel in the Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket in May, 2021. However, following a creditable fourth in the Musidora Stakes at York, Mystery Angel will take her chance in the second fillies’ Classic, the Oaks, having been supplemented at a cost of £17,000 to connections. Boughey’s most prolific horse, so far, has been the Godolphin ‘castoff’ Khatm, who has won six of his twelve starts, all on synthetic surfaces, for his new trainer. His biggest single earner, so far, has been the filly Pholas, who won the All-Weather Fillies’ And Mares’ Championships at Lingfield in April, 2021 and has amassed nearly £52,000 in prize money.