Racing: Brave Inca, winner of the 2006 Champion Hurdle, has been ruled out of the upcoming National Hunt season with a tendon injury.
However, trainer Colm Murphy hopes the nine-year-old, successful in nine Grade One races to date, will make a full recovery to resume his racing career in the future.
"The results of a scan showed there was some damage to his near-fore tendon," explained the Co Wexford-based handler. "It's something that he should make a 100 per cent recovery from but it rules him out for the year.
"He'll have a controlled programme at the moment, going on the horse walker and so forth. It will be a case of just restricting him this year. At that level he would have to be 100 per cent to be competitive.
"He's incredible — he's something else. He owes no-one nothing and we owe him everything. Hindsight's a wonderful thing and if I had the time again I wouldn't have run him at Punchestown in April. It had been such a long, hard season.
"I have no doubt in my mind he will get three miles and I still believe he can be very competitive at two," Murphy told At The Races. "I think we just went to the well one too many times."