THERE may well be more to the 2019 Champion Hurdle than a showdown between the front-running Apple’s Jade and the stalking Buveur D’Air, but that scenario is enough to frame the race as a potential classic, and it whets the appetite nicely for the festival.

Buveur D’Air is the obvious starting point having won the last two renewals, and he arguably ran the race of his live to beat Samcro in the Fighting Fifth before a surprise defeat to stablemate Verdana Blue (her jockey looking appropriately apologetic) in the Christmas Hurdle. Buveur D’Air emulated Lanzarote, Dawn Run, Kribensis and Faugheen by taking both Grade 1 events last season, but the Christmas Hurdle asks very different questions to those posed at Cheltenham, and defeat there was not a as shocking as it looked, and he should do better next week.