Inca to step up in Punchestown

Colm Murphy will step Brave Inca up to three miles for the first time in the Dunboyne Castle Hotel & Spa Champion Stayers’ Hurdle at Punchestown on Thursday.

Having won the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2006, Brave Inca had to settle for second behind Sublimity in this year’s renewal.

He also holds an entry in the two-mile ACCBank Champion Hurdle next week, but connections feel the conditions of the longer race will suit him better.

Murphy told the Racing Post: “I’ve always felt the two miles around Punchestown has been too sharp for him and, having spoken to his owners, we’re going to run in the stayers’ race rather than the two-miler.

“I rode him myself in a piece of work up the Old Vic gallop on the Curragh, and he’s in super form and ready to run.”

Brave Inca is likely to follow a similar path next season to the one he took this campaign.

“The plan, all being well, is to take the exact same route, but he’ll probably get an entry for both the Champion and the World Hurdle and we’ll decide closer to the time which route to take come Cheltenham,” Murphy added.