Syndicate team living the dream
Having set out to buy a horse that would provide a day of frivolity at the races, the seven-strong syndicate find themselves within touching distance of lifting the Champion Hurdle trophy for the second year running.
Nine-times Grade One winner Brave Inca has taken bookmaker Ciaran O’Tierney, his father Fergus, Tony Crean and their respective offspring on a rags-to-riches journey.
A £14,000 purchase at the 2001 Goffs Landrover Sale, the Colm Murphy-trained gelding has improved year on year to amass almost £800,000 in prize money and score twice at the Festival.
A Supreme Novices’ Hurdle victory came first in 2004, followed by a third place — beaten just two necks – in the 2005 Champion Hurdle, before he stormed home under Tony McCoy in last year’s renewal.
All of this is a long way from the original ambition of the group, who were brought together by their love of National Hunt racing.
O’Tierney, from Goatstown in Dublin, explained: “There were seven of us interested in racing, so we thought we’d club together and buy a horse. We didn’t know each other that well, but some of the sons had met before.
“One of the lads new Colm’s brother, so he got us all in contact and Colm — who had recently started training – bought the horse. The target was to have a horse so we could have a day at the races, and perhaps even win, but we had no great expectations.
“We used to go down to Wexford and visit him quite often at the beginning as that was part of the fun, and we thought that might be as good as it gets.”
Little did O’Tierney know the riches waiting around the corner, as Brave Inca’s initial performances on the track failed to set the world alight.
“His first few runs he was inexperienced, but Colm gave him a break and he came back and won a bumper by 20 lengths. We thought he might run well that day, but we didn’t expect that. He kept improving from there on and every year he has been better.”
Starting with that bumper win in March 2003, Brave Inca notched up a sequence of seven victories, and he has not been out of the frame since.
And it is one of those seven wins that O’Tierney rates as the most highly-charged of all of Brave Inca’s successes.
He said: “Personally, the Supreme Novices win was the most memorable race, as it was a dream come true. We hadn’t planned to go to Cheltenham as we always thought he would be a three-mile chaser.
“But he won the Deloitte Hurdle in February of 2004 and we decided about three weeks before Cheltenham we should give it a try. I had been to the Festival before, but for the most of the syndicate it was their first time there.
“For a small syndicate to set foot in the place with our first horse, with a relatively unknown jockey in Barry Cash and a trainer having his first runner in England, and then to win, was unbelievable.
“That is the one we will look back on in the future, especially with a future Gold Cup winner in War Of Attrition finishing second.
“When we went back last year the pressure was on and all we had thought about for 12 months was the Champion Hurdle. Going chasing was never really an option after that, as if we could win the Champion Hurdle, why would we switch?”
Brave Inca’s lazy style of racing is a key character trait. “We have grown used to his laziness and we now know that is the horse he is,” said O’Tierney. “You could work him with the worst horse and he would only win half a length, but he keeps finding and finding on the track.
“Touch wood he has never let us down and has always been placed at the top level.”
Brave Inca won two Grade Ones en route to Cheltenham last year, but failed in his bid to land the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle in January this winter when outsprinted from the final flight by Hardy Eustace.
However, connections are far from downcast ahead of today’s Champion Hurdle.
O’Tierney said: “We were never going to top last season, but I still wouldn’t swap him for anything.
“He was beaten fair and square the last day and there is nothing between him, Macs Joy and Hardy Eustace. They have dominated all the big hurdle races for the last three seasons.
“You could throw a blanket over them and it is whoever is right on the day who will come out on top.
“Detroit City is bang there too, and the winner will surely come from those four. I think the race may just come a year too early for Detroit City, but he will win a Champion Hurdle some time.”
