Old boy Inca very nearly does Catch Me

REPORT FROM FAIRYHOUSE: MORAL WINNERS have a nasty habit of not paying out, but only the flintiest heart was left unstirred by Brave Inca's remarkable comeback effort when runner-up to Catch Me in the Bar One Hatton's Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse yesterday.

Running for the first time in almost 19 months, the 2006 Champion Hurdle winner looked a shadow of his former self - but in the best possible way.

Unlike, for instance, when he won this race two years ago, when even Tony McCoy's legendary fitness was put to the test, Brave Inca travelled beautifully throughout under new rider Davy Russell.

The general expectation among the 5,000-strong Fairyhouse public might have been for him to blow up for want of a race, but on the turn-in he had his old rival, Hardy Eustace, covered and most of the rest beaten.

After the second-last Brave Inca went to the front, and even though Catch Me led at the last there was a brief moment when it looked like the veteran's famed battling qualities would get him back.

That would have tested the structural soundness of the Fairyhouse roof, but, as it was, a length-and-a-half defeat looked as if it felt as good as any past victory among the Brave Inca camp.

"Over the moon, absolutely delighted," beamed trainer Colm Murphy. "Considering what he normally improves by for a first run back you would have to be excited."

Brave Inca will drop to two miles for the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown, and quotes of as high as 25 to 1 for another Champion Hurdle victory in March could end up looking generous judged by Murphy's response yesterday to questions about stepping up his stable star to three miles.

"All options are open, but if he improves half what I think he will . . . We'll stick with two miles for the moment," he grinned.

Even Catch Me's trainer, Edward O'Grady, conceded that Brave Inca possibly came out of yesterday's race with more credit than his horse.

Crucially, though, it was Catch Me who came out of it with a maiden Grade One victory.

"Andrew (McNamara) said he couldn't have met the last worse, but he still managed to out-battle a battler," said O'Grady, who faces his own quandary about whether to step up or drop down in trip next time.

"It's at the back of my head to take the mystery out of it and run him at three miles over Christmas just to see if he gets it," he added.

Catch Me is now as low as 8 to 1 for the World Hurdle and 16 to 1 for the Champion.

But it wasn't such good news for the O'Grady-McNamara team after the Drinmore Chase when their favourite, Tranquil Sea, finished last and was taken out of some SunAlliance Chase betting lists.

"Jumping the third I wasn't happy, and then he made a mistake down the back. He wasn't himself," the jockey said after trailing home the impressive winner Trafford Lad.

"He is sound, he has scoped clean, but the vet says he is distressed," O'Grady added later after saddling Rocco's Hall to win the handicap hurdle.

Dusty Sheehy will consider the three-mile novice Grade One at Leopardstown over Christmas for Trafford Lad and another possible clash with yesterday's runner-up, Forpadydeplasterer.

"He's a natural jumper and the better pace helped him. He's a proper horse and of course we're dreaming of Cheltenham," said Sheehy. Trafford Lad is as low as 10 to 1 now for the SunAlliance Chase.

The moral-winner theme was also in play after Willie Mullins' Hurricane Fly got the better of a duel with Donnas Palm in the Royal Bond Novices Hurdle.

Back in third was the winner's stable companion, and jumping newcomer, Cousin Vinny, and Mullins admitted: "What I will take out of today is the way Cousin Vinny travelled and jumped. He can go anywhere after that. I'm delighted with him."

The Future Champions race at Leopardstown will be where Hurricane Fly goes next, and yesterday's winner is second-favourite behind Pandorama for the Ballymore Properties Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham.

However he does there he will always have a place in jockey Paul Townend's heart, as he is a first Grade One winner for the teenage wonder-kid who has stepped so impressively in to the boots of the injured Ruby Walsh.

"That was a difficult race to ride tactically because there was no pace, but Paul has risen to the occasion every time he has had a good ride," Mullins said.