Who will win next year's Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival?

With Espoir D’Allen unfortunately all but ruled out for the season, we take a look at the contenders for the Champion Hurdle crown who could stake their claim this season.

The current crop

You cannot mention the Unibet Champion Hurdle without flagging up dual winner Buveur D'Air, who was denied his hat-trick after falling at the third under Barry Geraghty.

The eight-time Grade 1 winner finished second to Supasundae at Aintree but emphatically reversed those placings in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle at Punchestown.

Despite being well beaten in his last two runs, it is difficult to dismiss last season's runner-up Melon given his fine record at Cheltenham.

Although he is yet to win at Prestbury Park, he has three seconds and a third on four runs at the course, and gave Buveur D’Air a scare in 2018, going down only by a neck.

Buveur D'Air (left) defeats Melon to win the 2018 Champion HurdleCredit: Mark Cranham

Apple's Jade failed to fire at the spring festivals, but having secured 16 and 20-length victories over Aintree Hurdle winner Supasundae, the mare has bags of ability and now that everyone has written her off could this be the season she finally asserts herself at Cheltenham?

Young pretenders

Klassical Dream was the big market mover following news of Espoir D’Allen’s injury, and was cut to as short as 3-1 for next season’s Champion Hurdle.

Since joining forces with Willie Mullins from France, the five-year-old has registered a perfect four wins over hurdles, including three Grade 1s, and was last season’s Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner under Ruby Walsh.

History is not necessarily on Klassical Dream’s side, with Hors La Loi III and Brave Inca the only runners to have won both the Supreme and Champion Hurdle in the past 20 years, but if he builds on his form this year he could take all the beating.

Klassical Dream: classy winner of the 2019 Supreme Novices' HurdleCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Pentland Hills flexed his muscles this year as he landed the Triumph and Aintree Juvenile Hurdle on his second and third starts over obstacles, and the sky's the limit for Nicky Henderson’s charge.

Fusil Raffles is another of Henderson’s relatively unexposed hurdlers, and the manner in which he won Punchestown’s Four Year Old Hurdle suggests the best is yet to come, and Espoir D'Allen proved last year, and Katchit before him, that those who competed as juveniles the previous season are not necessarily barred from this.

Dark horses

Talking of Espoir D’Allen, he was available at a big price for the Champion Hurdle this time last year, and there plenty of contenders out to make their mark this season.

Band Of Outlaws won the Fred Winter for Joseph O’Brien but has since failed to fire on three starts, including when third in the Galway Hurdle earlier this month.

But it is difficult to dismiss the JP McManus-owned runner given how well he progressed earlier this year.

Band Of Outlaws: won the Fred Winter at this year's Cheltenham FestivalCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Fakir D'Oudairies was only fourth in the Supreme but was a narrow second to both Pentland Hills and Fusil Raffles on his next two starts, and the four-year-old is likely to improve as time goes on.

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