Thornton to ride Somersby

Robert Thornton will replace Hadden Frost on Henrietta Knight's Somersby in the sportingbet.com Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival next Wednesday.

His participation in the race had been up in the air, with the Ryanair Chase mentioned as a possible alternative.

However due to owner Camilla Radford requiring hospital treatment on Thursday, the day of the Ryanair, the seven-year-old will instead run in the shorter race.

Frost has not secured a winner since November and this weekend returns from a 12-day ban for riding a circuit too soon.

"Choc (Thornton) rode him twice last year. Hadden has done nothing wrong on Somersby but he lacks the experience of championship races," Knight told the Daily Mail.

"He has also been off for two weeks. You need to have someone who is on the ball and knows the form in those sort of races.

"He ran well under Choc in the Arkle. He'll probably come over and have a pop over a few fences between now and the race.

"Hadden will ride Racing Demon if he gets in the Pertemps Handicap Hurdle on Thursday."