The jumps season feels as though it is well and truly back now, even before it is unofficially heralded in as usual with the Charlie Hall Chase.

As well as a Cheltenham meeting, we have the return of Aintree this weekend for a meeting that includes the popular Old Roan Chase.

This £80,000 event is staged over a trip just short of two and a half miles, the runners taking on 16 fences across the Mildmay Course.

Both Monet’s Garden as a horse and Paul Nicholls as a trainer have won the Old Roan three times, with Riders Onthe Storm last year’s winner. 11 have been declared and are looking to emulate those, the quality line-up ranging in ratings from 142 with Do Your Job and Erne River at the bottom to 158 with Hitman at the top.

We’re expecting a tight betting heat, the tissue prices ranging from 7/2 to 16/1, with five of the horses priced up between 5/1 and 8/1. These are the six we liked best:

Main Contenders

Datsalrightgino

Jamie Snowden trains Datsalrightgino, a seven-year-old last-time-out winner from the Ayr Gold Cup meeting.

In Ayrshire he took down a good field at Grade 2 level in the Future Champion Novices’ Chase and in this case, we may be able to take the name of the race quite literally.

He’s ready for this sort of challenge it would seem, though there is always the chance he just may need a run or two to really get back to his peak for the season as it’s fair to say he’ll have some very big targets lined up for him later.

Erne River

Erne River sits at the bottom of the weights and that could be handy, though he didn’t finish off last season overly well.

Despite being just eight and having had only 12 career races, he hasn’t reached his best form for quite some time now. That is a big worry, but he’s on the list as he could potentially be well handicapped if he does return to form given the level of ability he has.

Hitman

There have been several times in Hitman’s career that he has been touted by those with decent racing brains for big things. On the negative side, the fact that he hasn’t won a top-level chase yet would make him seem to some that he is a bit of a let-down, but that is far from the truth.

Detractors may forget that Paul Nicholls’ horse is just seven and has his best performances still to show us. He has always been fancied to do well at the highest level and, even though we’ve seen him 18 times already, he could improve past a few of the principals here.

Last November’s Graduation Chase win was an easy one, while his strong third in the Ryanair Chase is tip-top form too so he may prove hard to pass under jockey Harry Cobden.

Minella Drama

Donald McCain and Brian Hughes would surely love to win this race and they will have more collective knowledge of the track than many other contenders.

Their Minella Drama was third over the course and distance too in the Marsh back on Grand National weekend, while the horse now boasts a record of having finished 1st, 2nd or 3rd in eight of his 11 chases.

At the prices offered, this horse is a solid betting proposition to smaller stakes.

My Drogo

My Drogo, representing Dan Skelton and the Hughes’s, is on this list primarily because he is favourite going into the weekend though in truth, we are pretty much in the dark with him.

Always a talent, he is 5/7 in his career but we haven’t seen him since December 2021. While training techniques these days can overcome such apparent disadvantages, that is still some gap between runs and we may see a very different horse which makes him tough to handicap.

Tommy’s Oscar

The Hamilton’s deserve some big success with their star Tommy’s Oscar, and the Grade 2 winner has a distinct disadvantage over every other horse on our shortlist.

That advantage comes in the form of a fitness-enhancing recent run in which he won at Kelso and in fact improved upon his previous best form. He is one to watch for the season and indeed for this race.

Summary

Paul Nicholls has already won this race three times. That, allied with him being a genuinely top-class trainer, means he knows exactly what is required to win the event.

His HITMAN may well be topweight here, but he does have so much in his favour and he is taken to outclass this field. He’s been placed at Aintree several times and his Cheltenham Festival third can definitely be improved upon now, a third behind Envoi Allen and Shishkin at that.

Minella Drama is next for us but this is a race in which we could have mentioned all eleven runners, rather than a ‘shortlisted’ six.