Boubyan

The first win came at Newbury in July 2025, ending what had been a long wait. The second arrived at Newcastle in March 2026, and the fact that Boubyan raced just yesterday tells you this is a horse in active, regular work. The recent form string reads 1-5-9-11-2-5 going backwards — that Newcastle victory at the front, a place since, and some less convincing efforts in between. It is the profile of a horse that needs things to go right, but absolutely can when they do.

At a mile and three to a mile and four furlongs — roughly a lap and a bit of a standard track — Boubyan has won 1 of 4 races, a 25% win rate at those trips. That is a meaningful number. It suggests a horse that genuinely suits the distance rather than just running there occasionally, and it gives the team at Michael Appleby's yard in Oakham something real to target. Appleby has had 79 winners already this season, so this is not a small or quiet operation — it is a yard that knows how to find the right race for the right horse.

Jockey Hollie Doyle has partnered Boubyan seven times, winning once together — about 1 in every 7 rides. That is not a thundering partnership on paper, but Doyle is one of the best jockeys in Britain and the fact she returns to this horse repeatedly suggests the yard sees potential worth persisting with. Boubyan typically competes at Class 5, the level where horses are finding their feet and running against their peers rather than stars, and 2 wins from 8 races at that level — again 25% — is a solid return. For a horse still only four, still active, and still improving its record, there is every reason to think the best chapters are not yet written.