Awaken

Boughey has been candid about what happened last year. After a strong start to her career, Awaken wasn't quite right for much of the season. She struggled badly on wet, heavy ground at Salisbury — conditions that simply didn't suit her — but bounced back to run a huge race in the Rockfel Stakes, one of the top races in Britain for her age group. That combination of a bad day and a brilliant one in the same season tells you something important: the ability was always there, it just needed the right conditions to show itself.

Her one career win came at Leicester in July 2025 over a sharp five to six and a half furlongs, a trip that brings out the best in her. She has won 1 of her 4 races at that distance — 25% — which compares well with a blank record in her three races at the highest level. That blank isn't a shock. Class 1 races in Britain are where the very best horses compete, and simply turning up in that company as a young horse learning her trade is a statement of ambition in itself.

Billy Loughnane has ridden her in five of those six outings, winning on her once — 1 from 5, which is 1 in every 5 rides together. Boughey's yard has been in fine form this season, sending out 105 winners, so Awaken is operating in a yard that knows exactly what it takes to get a horse to peak at the right moment.

With Boughey now reporting that she has grown physically over the winter and that her work on the gallops looks better than at any point last year, the trainer is eyeing a trial — possibly the Nell Gwyn Stakes — as a stepping stone into the big spring races. She raced just yesterday, so she is fit and active. If the ground stays reasonable and the promise of the Rockfel run is the real Awaken, this could be a horse worth paying close attention to in the weeks ahead.