Seeyouatmidnight makes Rendlesham Hurdle return today
The Irish point-to-point graduate caused a 66-1 upset when beating Regal Encore on his hurdling debut at Hexham last season, but proved that was no fluke as he went on to score at Musselburgh before landing this Grade Two prize 12 months ago.
He failed to fire at the Grand National meeting at Aintree last April and having been sidelined by injury since, Thomson expects his charge to improve for the outing as he makes his comeback on Merseyside this weekend.
The trainer said: “It’s great to be getting him back on the track and we’ve been really happy with him the last few days. Brian Hughes came in and schooled him on Thursday and everything went really well.
“It is a tough ask for him, but winning on Saturday isn’t really the point. It would obviously be great if he could win, but the main thing is to get a run and hopefully he’ll come out of it well and we can move on.
“He hasn’t had a severe injury problem. We were hoping to get him out around Christmas time and then he had a splint problem, but it’s cleared up now.”
The Berkshire-based handler hopes a positive showing this weekend will put Seeyouatmidnight right for a tilt at the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at next month’s Cheltenham Festival.
“With his rating there really aren’t many places we can run him, so we’ll see what happens on Saturday and if all goes well, hopefully he can go for the World Hurdle after that,” said Thomson.
The clear danger to the Thomson runner is the Rebecca Curtis-trained At Fishers Cross, a dual Grade One-winning hurdler and third in the World Hurdle last March.
Despite his superior achievements, the eight-year-old receives 8lb from Seeyouatmidnight and Curtis is hopeful her charge can get off the mark for the campaign.
She said: “The race looks ideal for him. He’s really good at home but then he always is really good at home, it’s only when we take him racing that he disappoints.
“I hope he can come back to his old form. He was only beaten six and a half lengths in a Grade One at Leopardstown last time out and he would have been even closer but for his jumping, it’s just been letting him down.
“I’ve been very happy at home with him so we’ll just hope for the best.”
Milansbar steps up in class having won a couple of Uttoxeter handicaps hurdles before finishing second to the reopposing Barafundle at Haydock last month.
