by In parallel with our Stable Tour series, Dan Barber and Phil Turner from Timeform are building the ultimate My Stable for the new season.
YOUNG BUSTER (Fergal O’Brien)
Racing fans of a certain vintage will associate the name Young Buster with a smart flat performer who plied his trade primarily over a mile and a quarter for Geoff Wragg in the early 1990s. However, his current namesake promises to go three times as far and could well win a valuable pot at one of the many regional nationals held this winter. He certainly knows where the winning position lies, having enjoyed success in hurdles before scoring a hat-trick once last season. Admittedly, wins have been elusive for Young Buster since then, but he faced the enigmatic Captain Morgs on a good day at Aintree in his last appearance in May and certainly looks competitive with a BHA mark of 133, especially given his stamina exhausted is even more out (he walks very well in the mud). In fact, he will be aiming to regain the winning thread when he competes at Kelso this weekend. (Phil Turner)
BOIS GUILLBERT (Lucinda Russell)
And Pep Guardiola sometimes thinks he has a headache making the selection! Lucinda Russell, currently the best performing shipyard in the North when it comes to taking part in the major festivals, has seen a flood of well-behaved, imposing physical specimens pass through her hands in recent years as she rises to prominence and another conveyor belt passes through her hands, many of which are likely to be in go hunting this season. Choosing just one puts you at a very high risk of missing out on a cracker or three, but the vote in a hard-fought vote goes to Bois Guillbert, who has benefited from the recent introduction of junior hurdles as he continues his craft could learn waters in a calmer atmosphere. Bois Guillbert has looked like a chaser type from day one and promises to overcome fences with more speed than he can sometimes overcome hurdles. Still, he reached a fairly serviceable level over wood and formed well on his comeback in Perth, when he almost certainly needed the action. (Dan Barber)
DOYEN QUEST (Dan Skelton)
Four wins and three placed attempts from just nine starts under the Rules is clearly the profile of a horse you want to keep on your side, and Doyen Quest tempts as someone who will continue to pay for it no matter what path his wise yard takes in 2024 chooses for him. 25. His second-place finish again in the Silver Trophy at Chepstow marked a further step up in performance and the manner in which he came through the race suggests he will continue to hold his own in similarly valuable handicap hurdles, especially if yet longer routes need to be explored. In my eyes, however, Doyen Quest looks like a chaser, and I’ll be especially happy if people decide to upgrade it to the bigger obstacles sooner rather than later. A strongly bred gelding, he would have won the first Irish point on his debut in 2022 but struggled with late turning and if all goes to plan I am confident he will develop into a much better chase hurdler over time . (Phil Turner)
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