Brave bidding for joy five-timer
Brave Inca bids for his fifth win over Macs Joy this season when the old rivals meet in tomorrow’s ACC Bank Champion Hurdle at Punchestown.
Colm Murphy’s charge has already beaten Macs Joy in the English and Irish Champion Hurdles, the December Festival Hurdle and the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown.
Before that they even clashed in this race 12 months ago when Brave Inca won by a head from Harchibald with Macs Joy a length away third.
Their latest showdown came at Cheltenham last month when Brave Inca gained a length verdict over Macs Joy with Hardy Eustace, who is also declared tomorrow, third.
Murphy 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.”
However, the County Wexford handler is worried about the ground drying out too much for his stable star.
Good going has been maintained at the Festival so far due to watering after racing but Murphy has stated he would consider pulling out Brave Inca should conditions become too quick.
“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.”
Brave Inca’s rider Tony McCoy is looking forward to the contest.
“He’s a class horse as you would expect for a Champion hurdle winner,” he said.
“The small field should not make a difference to him and it was a small enough field when he won it last year.”
Macs Joy’s trainer Jessica Harrington is also unconcerned about the lack of runners.
“Hopefully he’s OK and we’ve kept him for this,” she said.
“He’s run in small fields before so that should not be a problem, but I haven’t spoken to Barry (Geraghty) about tactics yet.”
The horse Brave Inca deposed as Champion Hurdler was Hardy Eustace who had won the previous two renewals at Cheltenham.
However, the former champion has had something of an interrupted season.
After winning on his seasonal reappearance at Punchestown, he than finished last in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown when, it was later revealed, he was a sick horse.
Despite missing his prep run for Cheltenham, he ran with great credit to finish third and he has since gone on to finish second at Aintree behind Asian Maze.
And Dessie Hughes believes his charge should now be reaching his peak.
“He is in terrific form and is very well,” said Hughes.
“He has been to both Aintree and Cheltenham but he should be fresh enough and he will love the ground.”
