Hey Boo

Those two wins came within three weeks of each other, in February and March 2025, and both arrived at the same track over distances between seven furlongs and a mile. At that trip and that venue, Hey Boo has won 2 of 3 races — a remarkable two-thirds success rate that tells you the combination of sharp, all-weather racing and a test of stamina genuinely suits this horse. When everything lines up, it delivers.

The complication is what comes next on the formline. After that second Chelmsford win in March, the figures read 1-2-8-9-2 in reverse order — meaning the two most recent runs produced finishes of eighth and ninth. That's a sharp drop from the heights, and it raises the obvious question of whether Hey Boo found the step up in class too much. The yard has been pointing this horse at Class 1 races — the very best races in Britain — and the record there reads zero wins from four attempts. There's no shame in that; those are the toughest races around, but it does indicate that Hey Boo has been competing at a higher level than the two Chelmsford wins might suggest.

Jack Channon's operation at West Ilsley in Berkshire has been in good form this season, sending out 47 winners, so this is clearly a well-run yard that knows how to get horses ready. George Bass has been the regular jockey for Hey Boo, riding in all six races and sharing in both wins — a partnership that clearly works when conditions are right.

The big caveat is the absence. Hey Boo hasn't raced for around six months, which is a significant gap for a young horse still finding its way. A return to Chelmsford, over seven furlongs to a mile, would give it every chance of reminding people what it's capable of. Whether the form from those two winter wins still holds after this long a break is the question worth watching.