Blaklion one to beat after Thomson's star drops out

Seeyouatmidnight has been ruled out of tomorrows Towton Novices Chase at Wetherby (Picture: John Giles/PA Wire).

Trainer Sandy Thomson’s stable star scoped badly earlier in the week – the Scottish Borders have been particularly badly hit by adverse weather – and he does not intend to compromise the horse’s chances in the RSA Chase next month.

The defection deprives racegoers of a renewal of the thrilling clash at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day when Seeyouatmidnight, ridden with such confidence by North Yorkshire rider Brian Hughes, denied the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Blaklion, who is now the horse to beat in the Towton, a Grade Two race.

“It’s disappointing,” said Thomson, whose wife Quona owns Seeyouatmidnight after spotting the horse’s potential at Doncaster Sales.

“Two or three of mine have scoped badly. The weather’s been pretty awful. If he gets over it, there’s a novice chase at Newcastle on Eider day at the end of the month.

“We had a hell of a week, weather-wise, last week. We had to work him on Saturday when it was snowing and he didn’t work well on Tuesday.

“I was away on Wednesday, so we’ve got the vet in to see and he’s obviously picked something up. The one day that matters is still several weeks away. At least we didn’t take a chance and run him – that would have been a complete disaster.”

The daunting challenge facing runners from Yorkshire and the North at Cheltenham is illustrated by the entries for the Grade One novice hurdles which are, once again, dominated by the powerhouse yards from the south and Ireland.

The only local runner in the 64 entries for the two-mile Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, the Festival’s curtain-raiser is Malton trainer Brian Ellison’s Always Resolute, who was a final flight faller at Catterick last month. He could reappear at Musselburgh on Sunday.

There will be no local representation in the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle over two and a half miles while the three-mile Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle has at least attracted the Trevor Hemmings-owned Vintage Clouds from Sue Smith’s High Eldwick Stable.

It remains the preferred option for ante-post favourite Barters Hill, who prevailed at Doncaster last Saturday.

As for the JCB Triumph Hurdle for four-year-old juveniles won by John Quinn’s Countrywide Flame in 2012, Great Habton’s Tim Easterby has entered Our Thomas, another Hemmings horse and which made a winning debut over obstacles at Wetherby last October.