News: Wincanton in mid-February would not normally be expected to be the focus of Colm Murphy's attention but Brave Inca's trainer will be viewing with more interest than most in 19 days' time.
The Kingwell Hurdle at the west country track is scheduled to be the next stop for the JP McManus-owned Lingo and a good display there could see Tony McCoy claimed to ride him in the Champion Hurdle in March.
The British champion jockey left no one in any doubt after Brave Inca's AIG European Champion Hurdle win at Leopardstown on Sunday that he wants to continue his hugely successful association with Murphy's star hurdler.
But the McManus connection could yet scupper those hopes and while Murphy maintained again yesterday his desire for McCoy to continue riding Brave Inca he also stressed the decision is strictly out of his hands.
"I have to wait and see what Tony is doing. Until I hear confirmation everything is up in the air," the Gorey-based trainer said yesterday.
"To be fair he is in the same boat. He has to wait for something more definite and a lot will depend on what Lingo does. The ball is in his court but unfortunately it looks like he won't have much choice in the matter."
McCoy has been beaten just once in five rides on Brave Inca including winning three Grade One races.
Brave Inca got a "really well" report on his condition after Sunday's race where a length defeat of Macs Joy propelled him to the top of the Champion Hurdle betting. One firm went as short as 7 to 4 about Brave Inca successfully improving on last year's third behind Hardy Eustace.
The defending champion finished a remote last of the seven runners at Leopardstown but an excuse for that poor performance arose yesterday morning with a less than perfect blood result. The race will begin now to see if a Cheltenham prep can be fitted in, most likely at Gowran in the Red Mills Hurdle (February 18th.)
"He looks fine and scoped clean after the race but the blood sample we took is not 100 per cent. He has picked up a little virus or whatever. He ran lifeless and never jumped a hurdle," said Hardy Eustace's trainer Dessie Hughes.
The horse will get at least a week on the sidelines and Hughes added: "I don't think antibiotics will be any good for the particular infection he has. We will see how he is in a week or 10 days before deciding about the Red Mills. The important thing is to get him right."
Another Leopardstown runner to disappoint his connections was Justified who managed only third behind Missed That and Arteea in the Baileys Arkle. His trainer, Dusty Sheehy, yesterday found himself in the unusual position of hoping to find something wrong with his horse.
"I can't find anything wrong with him yet but obviously it wasn't a true run with Arteea on form before the race. I hope to find something wrong because it would be disappointing if I don't," he said.
Justified's odds for the Arkle at Cheltenham stretched to 14 to 1 on the back of Sunday's race and a trip to Navan on February 19th for the Flyingbolt Chase could be needed to re-establish those festival claims.
"We may go there to see if it was just a blip. But if it doesn't go right at Navan we may have to skip the Arkle at Cheltenham," Sheehy admitted.
A total of 28 horses were yesterday left in the four-year-old hurdle at Fairyhouse at the weekend but the star name among the entry is the Willie Mullins-trained Mister Hight who is a clear ante-post favourite for the Triumph Hurdle.
Also in the 28 is Dermot Weld's Bobs Pride who managed only fifth on his jumping debut at Leopardstown on Sunday.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)