The trainers ready to explode in 2026 - and exactly when you should be backing them

Whenever a young sports star achieves something incredible, it’s de rigueur to think back to what you were doing at their age. I certainly wasn’t riding Classic winners at the age of 20, although I did win the World Cup a few times. Fifa counts, right? 

Billy ‘The Kid’ Loughnane isn’t like the rest of us and neither is trainer George Boughey, who is 14 years older than Bow Echo’s jockey even though, if he hadn't been wearing a suit on the telly the other day, you wouldn’t necessarily know it. 

I’d be surprised if either of them could get served a Guinness without being asked for ID, but they had no problem serving it up in the Guineas with a genuinely joyful win, beating the Ballydoyle and Godolphin juggernauts and celebrating like, well, they’d just won a Classic.