My Timeform: Three horses to watch from Doncaster and Cheltenham

Red Devil Boys: Doncaster, 12th December

Having had his hurdling career abruptly halted after such a promising start two years ago, you’d have thought that karma owed Red Devil Boys more than being brought down by a stricken jockey on his return.

That is just a slightly disingenuous way to describe the denouement to Doncaster’s opener on Friday. The fact is that Clondaw Kaempfer, whose jockey Brian Harding brought Red Devil Boys to grief, had already offered our hero a stroke of good luck by unseating at the last when he was just starting to assert. Nevertheless it’s still Red Devil Boys who deserves greater attention next time.

Clondaw Kaempfer is an established, near-smart hurdler and was race-fit too on Friday. We can’t say the same for Red Devil Boys on either count but that really isn’t his fault. Whatever kept him away from the track for 17 days shy of two years after his impressive hurdling debut, it evidently hasn’t weakened his engine and we can forgive him for just giving way to a useful, fit rival at the late stage before their common misfortune at the last. He’s a banker for a similar event and, further down the line, will enter handicaps with relatively few miles on the clock.

Quicuyo: Doncaster, 12th December

Connections have been playing the long game with Quicuyo, who had an even longer lay-off than Red Devil Boys ahead of his reappearance this winter. He’s now rising 12 and clearly no prospect for the long term, though now could be the time to jump back aboard as a first win since January 2012 gathering on the horizon.

Quicuyo gets most of his fruit from Doncaster’s tree these days and it was there last week that the buds of his next win could be seen. He ultimately finished a comfortably-held second to the much-younger Bernardelli, though he’d raced Arctic Ben from a long way out and was forced to press on when that one exited at the fourth-last fence. Quicuyo duly had nothing left when Bernardelli came to challenge two from home. He’s actually been dropped 2 lb by the BHA for that effort, to 115, which opens up a much weaker type of race to him and offers plenty of wriggle room relative to his best (won off 137 in January 2012).

Boss des Mottes: Cheltenham, 13th December

Right at the other end of the age scale is the juvenile Boss des Mottes. He hasn’t yet run to much more than a modest level over hurdles, though his appearance in a Cheltenham race (won by Hargam) on Saturday suggests that better is expected to follow and we’d agree with that implication, so long as the emphasis is more on speed.

Boss des Mottes shaped better than a 30-odd length defeat on Saturday would suggest, briefly going third before his effort flattened out. Another in-frame finish, following a third at Doncaster on his debut for Dan Skelton (when well backed) qualifies Boss des Mottes for handicaps. His mark was announced earlier this morning and though 113 is higher than his bare form warrants we’re confident he has the beating of that figure in him. That’s especially true if he’s pitched in against older horses and receives the generous weight allowance that comes with that.