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Angus McNae - Saturday 23rd February

Cheltenham Festival fever has struck and for the next few weeks the jumps season will go into a partial hibernation. Just because virtually all of the Cheltenham-bound horses will not be running after this weekend that does not mean that there will not be some decent action to watch on , as evidenced by today's excellent card at Kempton.

The Racing Plus Chase is the feature event of the day and every time I look at it I cannot get away from Rolling Aces.

If I said to you that there is a horse running who looks to be well handicapped, is in good form, jumps well, is open to improvement and is trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Ruby Walsh you would probably want to back him.  Well, that horse is Rolling Aces. I know it is easy to tip a Nicholls and Walsh horse on a Saturday, but if it has a great chance, why not?

This race is always very competitive and it will be no cakewalk for this progressive young chaser. After all, with a mixture of old friends such as Nacarat, a former dual-winner of this race, and progressive younger horses like Wyck Hill it is never going to be easy, but I think we are going to see another big Saturday winner for the Nicholls’ massive.

This afternoon's high-profile meeting at Newcastle has been abandoned due to snow on the track.

The other big race of the day is the Eider Chase at Newcastle. This is going to be a real slog in the mud and will be very much a case of last man standing. I think that horse could be Chac Du Cadran, who won easily at Catterick last time out. He stays well and handles conditions, but most importantly comes into the race in top form. I’m going to have a bet to small stakes in race which may take long enough to run for me to make a cup of tea, rake up a few leaves and have a shower!

My speed figures for the most recent meeting in Dubai have been crunched and all will be revealed on Thursday. Suffice to say Mike De Kock has got Await the Dawn back to the level that he achieved when with Aidan O’Brien.

For now, stay warm and have a good weekend.

Today's tip:

3.50pm Kempton: Rolling Aces (4/1 bet365)