Only 4 days before i watch those epic Grade 1 Superstars walk into that parade ring for the battle of the season, the Champion Hurdle.. on Champions day. Nicky Henderson's Buveur d’Air is going for a historic hattrick. Only 5 others have achieved this including Istabraq.. Unbeaten in his 11 previous races following a beating from Altior in 2016, i was at kempton on Boxing day for the shock of the year when tiny little mare Verdana Blue took him in a photograph finish. All the pundits are rightly putting Gordon Elliott's Apple's Jade and Willie Mullins Laurina as the main dangers but at 16/1 i would have to be bonkers not to take that each way on the little mare who stuffed him on Boxing Day. I'll be overjoyed to see Buveur D'air lift the crown but each way, Verdana Blue would have to be my banker.
