RACING/Leopardstown Report: Brave Inca's dramatic victory at Leopardstown yesterday earned him a place alongside his stable companion, Feathard Lady, in next month's AIG Champion Hurdle here, and left their young trainer, Colm Murphy, with an enviable headache for the run-up to Cheltenham.
Feathard Lady's scintillating success at Sandown on Monday briefly propelled her past her better known stablemate to the head of the festival betting.
But just in case anyone had forgotten what had taken Brave Inca to the top of the hurdling tree in the first place, they got a timely reminder in yesterday's bewleyshotels.com December Hurdle.
In bitterly cold and testing conditions, Tony McCoy's mount battled his way to a typically tenacious defeat of the odds-on Harchibald, who once again flattered to deceive and went down by three lengths.
Paul Carberry's confidence levels were at a high after a hugely successful Christmas festival, but even that wasn't enough to propel Harchibald past his old rival on the run in.
"I thought he would hack in, especially after he winged the last, but the winner picked up and mine didn't," explained Carberry after another flamboyant challenge from the rear of the five-runner field. "The operation went well but the patient just died!"
When it comes to a fight, however, Brave Inca is never dead, and in McCoy he has the perfect never-say-die pilot.
A big help yesterday was the move by the 40 to 1 outsider Newmill, who set a good pace to near the last flight when McCoy's urgings took Brave Inca to a lead he simply wasn't prepared to relinquish.
"He has a lot of class but he isn't spectacular," summed up McCoy, who is already looking ahead to Cheltenham. "It should be a great race. Both my horse and Harchibald will like better ground, Hardy Eustace is a dual champion and Feathard Lady was impressive."
Brave Inca is now as low as 11 to 2 for Cheltenham, although Ladbrokes' reaction to yesterday's action was to cut Feathard Lady into 5 to 1 joint favourite with Harchibald.
For a relatively new trainer like Murphy, having such a strong team for a championship race is a remarkable career boost, but the Gorey man took in yesterday's events with the sort of calm his former mentor, Aidan O'Brien, would appreciate.
"We will see how both of them are, but the plan all along has been to run them in the AIG," he said. "I'm delighted with the way he has done it today in that ground. Newmill going on was a bonus, because it takes the hard work out of it, and I was happy with the way he jumped."
He added: "The travelling over and back from England took a lot out of the mare and ideally I would like to have her here fresh for the AIG."
Noel Meade pointed to the rain-softened ground as a major factor in Harchibald's defeat, and didn't rule out a return to the track for the AIG.
The enigmatic star remains the Champion Hurdle market leader in most ante-post lists, but a score of 3-1 to Brave Inca in their personal match-ups might suggest a decisive swing in his great rival's direction.
Over €10 million was bet at Leopardstown over the Christmas festival by the close on 66,000 people who attended over the four days.
Yesterday's €1,613,888 turnover brought the bookmaker total for the week to €7,676,111. The Tote total was €2,441,859 after yesterday's contribution of €502,826.
A total of 2,617 more people visited the course compared to the four days of 2004, even though yesterday's attendance of 10,015 was down 1,294 on last year.
