Billy Loughnane received a rocking horse for Christmas as a toddler, and the real thing the following year. By age 19, he is the favourite to win Saturday's 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket aboard Bow Echo — and he has already rewritten a record that stood for two decades.

Loughnane grew up learning to ride at his flat-trainer father Mark Loughnane's yard at Rock, near Kidderminster, and won his first race at his "local" course in Wolverhampton in November 2022. Just a year later, he became the youngest jockey since the legendary Lester Piggott in 1951 to ride in a British classic when he competed in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Then came the number that turned heads across the sport: 222 winners last season, breaking Kieren Fallon's long-standing record that had endured since 2003. That feat secured the Champion Apprentice title and made Loughnane Annual Flat Champion Jockey, putting him on the cusp of the sport's ultimate prize.

"That's been my dream since I've been able to walk and talk," Loughnane said. "Being able to do it will be something that will mean a lot."

Central to his rise has been his partnership with trainer George Boughey, who describes Loughnane as something between a "father figure" and an "older brother." The pair text regularly — sometimes while Loughnane is riding at Wolverhampton in the evening, sending updates between races. Boughey has even taken to walking and running the Newmarket track himself in preparation for big days, a ritual that paid off four years ago when 16-1 shot Cachet won the 1,000 Guineas.

"I feel very relaxed when he rides for me because I think the relationship we have enables him the freedom to ride as he likes," Boughey said. "He's extraordinarily driven and I think hard work in life is a big part of getting to where he wants to get to."

Victory for Bow Echo would give Boughey his second Classic success and mark another milestone for a yard that started with just "three or four horses" in 2019. Today it trains for some of the biggest names in the sport, including Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, whose colt Loughnane will ride into racing history — if the dream holds true.

"He's a brilliant horseman, a brilliant rider, a brilliant judge of pace," Boughey said. "I could not wish for anyone better to be on board."