Inca set for Punchestown return

Champion Hurdle hero Brave Inca is likely to face four rivals as he bids for a Festival double at Punchestown on Friday.

Colm Murphy’s charge will again clash with Cheltenham runner-up Macs Joy and third place Hardy Eustace in a fascinating renewal of the Grade One ACC Bank Champion Hurdle.

Both Brave Inca and the Jessica Harrington-trained Macs Joy have not run since the Champion Hurdle, while Dessie Hughes’ Hardy Eustace finished a distant second to Asian Maze in the Aintree Hurdle at the beginning of the month.

Tom Mullins has declared Asian Maze for the two-mile race but she is also entered in tomorrow’s Whitewater Champion Stayers’ Hurdle.

The likely field is completed by Michael O’Brien’s Essex, who finished a half-length second to Brave Inca last November but has failed to hit such heights since.

Newmill, winner of the Kerrygold Champion Chase on Tuesday, was the only horse of six initial entries to be withdrawn.