Paul Nicholls believes that Master Minded will be difficult to beat in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at next month’s Cheltenham Festival and Paddy Power are offering all new customers a free £100 bet on the superstar regaining his crown.

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The trainer has watched his former Champion Chaser bounce back to his best this season and the superstar looks back to the form that saw him win the race in 2008 and 2009.

Irish raider Big Zeb won the race in 2010 and will be back to defend his title, but Nicholls explained: Obviously last season was a bit of a damp squib and we had a few little problems with him - the rib and others. He was never at his best and at the end of last season we were at the top of the gallops and he was making a noise. So we had a breathing op and he's been a different horse.

“He tends to idle a bit when he's in front and at Ascot last time, although Somersby ran a lot better, I'd say he wasn't doing much in front. AP said he was in front far too soon and I don't think he was at his best - I'd trained him quite hard for the two races in the autumn and then I backed off him a bit so he probably wasn't as fit at Ascot last time.”

The trainer believes that he is almost ‘banker material’ and admits that he is arriving at the Festival in fine fettle.  He continued: “He needs to be very fit and very fresh to be at his best. We don't want him to peak in January- we need him to be at his best in March, so I've given him a nice little break and now we're starting to stoke the work into him.

“He looks really well and I think he's got an outstanding chance in the race - the faster they go the better he'll be with Ruby sitting quietly on him and he's still the one they've got to beat. I'm really looking forward to running him - he's full of confidence and back to where he was before.”