Every time he enters his local Cotswold pub, Nigel Twiston-Davies sees the framed, faded reminders of his golden days. Not just the Grand National wins but the weekend in 1992 when he won Cheltenham's first big steeplechase of winter with Tipping Tim and led the trainers' championship. It has been a long wait but, 16 years on, history could be about to repeat itself.

Already, as the Hollow Bottom faithfully chronicles on a prominent beam, Twiston-Davies has had the temerity to knock Paul Nicholls from the top of the title table. When it happened, a fortnight ago, the two trainers exchanged jolly texts, Nicholls doubtless confident it would be a short-lived demotion. “All of two days,” Twiston-Davies confirms. “But we've a chance of getting it back this weekend.”

That may seem a tall order, with the gap above £120,000 and Nicholls, as his rival agrees, “going mad lately, winners everywhere”. But three richly endowed cards at Cheltenham begin today and Cheltenham, certainly at this time of year, is very much Twiston-Davies's domain.

He is the leading trainer at the Open meeting and plans runners in 16 of the 18 races, missing only the last two on Sunday. This is not a cunning plan to start the celebration early but the aforementioned local will have the pumps and optics prepared, and another photo-frame to record the moment if either Imperial Commander or Patman Du Charmil can give the stable its first Paddy Power Gold Cup success since Tipping Tim.

“We had a lot of good chasers when Tipping Tim was around but this is definitely the best bunch we've had since and it has the potential to be better still,” Twiston-Davies said yesterday. “We haven't seen the best of a lot of them yet.”

Behind him in the tiny roadside office, Paddy Brennan, the stable jockey with more than a coincidental role in this resurgence, beamed. Brennan does not just ride the horses with style and sympathy, he also helps plot their campaigns, tempering his instinctively gung-ho trainer with prudence.

After exercising two lots, they were planning targets - the Long Walk Hurdle for Pettitfour, the Gerry Feilden for recent arrival Khyber Kim, the Betfair Chase or Hennessy for Knowhere, a valuable chase at Ascot next week for Mahogany Blaze.

Until recently, Twiston-Davies lived for the moment, seldom concerning himself with races beyond the week. Now, he spends hours bent over his computer, or the programme book, contemplating how to turn an auspicious season into a monumental one.

Not that it always comes naturally. “Sometimes I think I'm completely dyslexic,” he exclaimed, struggling to find the Z on his keyboard. There is, though, a barely concealed ambitious streak present now and, while it does not submerge his essential character as a loyal, genial and generous scruff, it has undoubtedly helped restore him to the top flight of training.

His 87 winners last season were a career best but his target this term of a maiden century is now, with 53 banked, looking almost conservative. Twiston-Davies, though, is irritatedly conscious of the perception that his prolific autumns often peter out and now, even within the confines of a team of 80, he has the ammunition to protect his position.

Imperial Commander is a source of anticipation, despite being off since last December. “He had a few joint pains after his only defeat over fences and we stopped to allow him time to strengthen up,” he said. “He'll want three miles in time but he's done it well over this trip and he likes the track.”

Likes it so much, indeed, that this will be his eighth run at Cheltenham in ten career starts, while Patman Du Charmil, his stablemate in a maximum field of 20 for the feature race tomorrow, has only been elsewhere once in his past eight runs. If the horses don't enjoy Cheltenham, their trainer plainly does.

He has representatives in the novice chases on all three days and offers no negatives. He said: “Razor Royale would have won at the last meeting but for a silly fall and should win. They have all got Ballyfitz to beat on Saturday and Crescent Island is going the right way round.”

Pigeon Island, whose seven wins in a relentless schedule made him a hero of last season, is not an obvious winner of the Greatwood Hurdle on Sunday but Twiston-Davies is hopeful. He said: “He took a bit of time to come to hand last year and he seems in tremendous form now.”

Highlight of today's seven runners will be the reappearance of Battlecry. “I'm hoping he will turn into a Gold Cup horse,” the trainer said. And why doubt him? A year ago, Twiston-Davies, a sleepwalker since childhood, walked unwittingly out of a mistakenly unlocked door with a sheer drop to concrete beyond it, and required hospital treatment for his injuries. He has not strayed from his bed at night since, which may just be a measure of contentedly realistic dreams.