After two days at Cheltenham for The Showcase Meeting, it’s up to Aintree on Sunday. What a weekend for us Jumps fans.

The feature on Merseyside is the Old Roan Handicap Chase, while there’s plenty of interest across the seven-race card.

Let’s get stuck in, shall we?

14:00 – Hitman @ 7/2

This is an intriguing renewal of the Old Roan – a Grade 2 handicap chase over 2m4f – with much attention on Dan Skelton’s My Drogo at the head of the market.

He’s a classy animal, but he’s been off the track for 687 days, suffering multiple setbacks, and it’s been suggested the plan is to work back from the King George at Boxing Day.

I think he has to be taken on – for me, with Paul Nicholls’ 158-rated Hitman.

The seven-year-old was a narrow second in this race last year, off a pound higher, and later in the season was an excellent third in the Ryanair at the Cheltenham Festival.

I think his form is the best on offer in this field, and he’s a model of consistency – with only two blots on his copybook since joining Ditcheat in 2020 – so you can trust him to give his running. Nicholls says he’s done “plenty at home” and that this has been the target since July.

Do Your Job and Al Dancer are only getting older, while Tommy’s Oscar has been raised 5lbs for winning a very average event at Kelso earlier this month. Datsalrightgino is respected, but I’d be extremely disappointed if the other five runners were able to beat the selection.

15:45 – Master Chewy @ 4/1

Just under two hours later is another handicap chase – a Class 2 over two miles to be precise.

Dan Skelton’s Pembroke is an exciting recruit to chasing who made a decent start at Uttoxeter earlier this month, and he’s a rightful favourite for this 0-135 affair.

However, he faces some potentially well-handicapped types, including Chapel Green and Master Chewy.

I’m very excited to see what the latter can do this season, now tackling the bigger obstacles. It’s cliché, but he’s bred for and was bought for chasing.

He was a little disappointing, at least relative to his reputation, over hurdles, but did show promise on several occasions. Clearly he’s well-regarded by the Twiston-Davies’, for he was even tried in the Ballymore at the Festival.

If jumping fences improves him like I think it will, he could be very well-treated off a mark of 121 – and now is the time to catch him, for a yard who have no issues getting one ready after a break.