George Boughey stocks up at Tattersalls as new training career beckons

After an integral part of his learning curve in racing spent with bloodstock agent Luke Lillingston, George Boughey was shouldering the sales responsibility at Tattersalls on his own after collecting three new purchases this week.

Later this month, the former assistant to Hugo Palmer will become Britain’s newest trainer when he begins sending out runners from boxes at Red House Stables on the Hamilton Road.

The 27-year-old was assessing the newest members of his small string on Sunday morning, having taken a chance on Hamdan Al Maktoum and Simon Crisford’s twice-raced Wallaa for 4,000gns, the 80-rated handicapper Ghayadh for 13,000gns and David O’Meara’s winning Requinto filly Fairy Fast for 7,500gns.

"Wallaa is a nice Dawn Approach filly who looks like she’ll win her maiden, and I was delighted to pick her up, hopefully that’s a very good buy and she was recommended by her trainer and Angus Gold, the owner’s racing manager," Boughey said. "She’s trotting away and hopefully can run in a few months.

"There’s a great programme of races for Fairy Fast in August and hopefully we’ve bought her for money we can get back."

Boughey will have to work out the intricacies of that pair, but he has prior experience with Ghayadh.

"I ran a satellite yard for Hugo on the Hamilton Road for a couple of years and we had him down there and he won couple of races before he sold very well to Stuart Williams for 70,000gns," he explained.

"Hopefully he’ll be a fun horse to run in August too. We seemed to work him out before, and hopefully he’s back to where he was in the handicap now and we can find a spot for him."

Neither of the trio were bought with owners in mind, and Boughey has shares in them still to sell. Other prospective clients might have to wait, as competition was stiff for the majority of those going through the ring.

"I had three or four orders for the sale and I didn’t fill a single one of those because the horses were making so much money," he said.

"It’s a big sale for the Middle Eastern buyers ahead of their season and even the really moderate horses were making five or ten grand, but we were delighted with the three we bought."

The training will be Boughey’s responsibility, but he will not be short of advice when dipping into the sales in the future.

"I did a couple of sales seasons with Luke, he was very good to me and got me a job with Gai Waterhouse in Australia, he’s a great mentor of mine," he said. "Sam Haggas was helping, we spent quite a lot of time going through the catalogue, but my absolute life is form. I think placing horses in races is what a lot of it is about."

If you enjoyed reading this, you might also like...

Sprint sensation Blue Point to stand at Kildangan Stud next year

Peter Schiergen mourns loss of Danedream's two-year-old Frankel filly

Salcey Forest Stud relocates to new base in Warwickshire