Go with Inca the Brave
Murphy is worried about the rapidly drying ground and will walk the track this morning before the green light is given.
The trainer reports Brave Inca to be in good form.
“He seems in great order and I couldn’t be happier with him,” he said.
“We’ve freshened him up since Cheltenham and he’s in great nick.”
“I just hope the ground will be OK for him tomorrow,” he said.
“We’ve bypassed Aintree this year with the intention of keeping him fresh for this race so hopefully it will pay dividends. He’s going there a pretty fresh horse but the ground doesn’t want to get any quicker for him.
“I would have no qualms at all about pulling him out if the ground gets any quicker than it is at the moment.”
In what should be yet another thriller, it is the well-documented courage of Brave Inca which may prove the vital factor one more time.
These two cracking horses clashed in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown in January, when Brave Inca beat his rival a length.
The Smurfit Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham proved an exact replica of Leopardstown, with Brave Inca again proving a length too good for Macs Joy.
The latter looked a huge danger before and shortly after the final flight, but it was Murphy’s warrior who faced the hill the better.
There’s a reasonable chance Macs Joy, who is a year younger than his opponent, will go by him at some stage in the future. But not today!
Hardy Eustace was third at Cheltenham and has four and a half lengths to make up on the selection.
I was disappointed with him at Aintree, when proving no match for Asian Maze, and this former dual champion hurdler will do well to split the principals.
Nicanor, who did us a big favour when overturning hot-pot Denman at Cheltenham, gets the nap in the Dunboyne Castle Hotel and Spa Champion Novice Hurdle.
He jumped really well then, there were doubts beforehand, and had too much speed and stamina for his rival in the closing stages, scoring by two and a half lengths.
This is a very hot contest, but Nicanor has looked star in the making throughout the campaign and will take plenty of beating.
O’Muircheartaigh will probably be the fancy of the majority in the Flogas Ireland Novice Hurdle, but hasn’t fulfilled earlier promise and preference is for Pedrobob, who will revel in the conditions.
Tony Mullins’ charge had future winner written all over him, returning from a break, when four lengths runner-up behind the smart Thyne Again at Gowran Park earlier this month.
