Martin Dixon's Saturday tips: three bets at Cheltenham

A big-money purchase after his winning debut in November, Paul Nicholls wasted no time getting Minella Yoga back to the track, and it's testament to a good attitude, and a high level of professionalism, that he maintained his unbeaten record when defeating older rivals at Newbury last month. 

Admittedly, he was in receipt of lots of weight, but the runner-up, Act Of Innoncence, is a contender I'd taken a high view of previously, and it was such a tenacious effort from Minella Yoga that I can see the demands of Cheltenham really playing to his strengths. 

He's open to plenty of further improvement, too. 

Jagwar is a worthy, and very solid, favourite for this valuable handicap chase but, with a general 12-1 on offer, at the time of writing, Donnacha makes strong each-way appeal. 

He's a contender I've always had time for because he's honest and consistent, and although this will require a career-best performance, he has been running extremely well in defeat this season.

I think the return to more testing conditions will suit perfectly, and he was placed in two handicap hurdles at Cheltenham, so I'm hopeful the track will suit him, for all that he's never run over fences here. 

Impose Toi, the odds-on favourite for the Pertemps Network Cleeve Hurdle, is evidence himself that the gap between high-end handicaps to Graded contests in this staying hurdle division isn't that significant, and in receipt of weight here, I think Ma Shantou is a bet at around 5-1. 

Clearly, he has to improve again, but he's produced two personal bests at Cheltenham already this season, and I wonder if he might handle testing ground better than both Impose Toi and Strong Leader.

The selection was hugely impressive in a bumper a couple of years ago on heavy ground at Huntingdon, which is worth noting.