Time is right for Night

SANDY HAS A SHORE THING

SANDY THOMSON admits to the occasional “what if?” when looking back on a rugby union career that took him to the brink of a full Scotland cap.

But – win, lose, or draw – he won’t be prey to the same emotion after his 10-year-old Seeyouatmidnight bids to follow in the hoofprints of compatriot One For Arthur 12 months ago by winning the Randox Health Grand National at Aintree next Saturday.

“I had a B cap for Scotland,” says the 56-year-old, whose father and grandfather trained jumpers in the Scottish Borders.

“I look back and I think, ‘If I had done this, that and the next thing, would I have been a better rugby player? Would I have played for Scotland?’”

The Berwickshire-based trainer is fresh for the fight, despite his charge being sidelined for the first half of the campaign by a ligament issue.

A proposed reappearance in Kelso’s Premier Chase at the start of last month was scuppered when the fixture fell twice to the elements, while freezing temperatures also claimed another comeback at Doncaster. Carlisle’s card in March succumbed to snow as the Beast From The East made an unwelcome return to the west, so Thomson, required by the rules to run Seeyouatmidnight over fences before 2 April, took on the eight-hour drive to Newbury for the Doom Bar Handicap Chase 15 days ago.

With his Aintree partner Brian Hughes unavailable, Danny Cook rode him to a 20-length third over the twoand-a-half-mile distance – no more than a sprint to a stout chaser. “I wasn’t keen to go to Newbury or Ascot, but it’s a funny old thing,” reflects Thomson.

“Being away for three days and jumping that big track, maybe it has been the best thing for him. I’ve been delighted with him since.”

Seeyouatmidnight, who runs in the colours of Thomson’s wife Quona, is a 20-1 shot to humble the Irish and English battalions on Saturday.

But Thomson has revelled in the underdog role before when South of Scotland turned over Australia at rugby in Hawick in December 1984.

Thomson adds: “You never know how he will take to the fences at Aintree, but I’m very happy with how he is.

“At the moment, I’m not saying, ‘What if ?’”