Brave Inca
Brave Inca (20 April 1998 – 18 September 2025) was an Irish-bred and Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career that lasted from March 2002 until April 2009, he ran thirty-five times and won 15 races, ten of them at Grade I level. including the 2006 Champion Hurdle. From 2005 until he was retired, Brava Inca ran in sixteen successive Grade I races.
| Brave Inca | |
|---|---|
 Brave Inca at the Cheltenham Festival in 2005 | |
| Sire | Good Thyne |
| Dam | Wigwam Mam |
| Damsire | Commanche Run |
| Sex | Gelding |
| Foaled | 1998 |
| Country | Ireland |
| Colour | Bay |
| Breeder | D W McAuley |
| Owner | Novices Syndicate |
| Trainer | Colm Murphy |
| Record | 35: 15-8-4 |
| Earnings | £971,332 |
| Major wins | |
| Champion Hurdle (2006) Supreme Novices' Hurdle (2004) Irish Champion Hurdle (2006,2009) December Festival Hurdle (2005, 2006) Punchestown Champion Hurdle (2005) Deloitte Novice Hurdle (2004) Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle (2004) Hatton's Grace Hurdle (2006) | |
| Awards | |
| Anglo-Irish Jump Horse of the Year (2006)[1] | |
| Last updated on 18 September 2025 | |
Brave Inca (20 April 1998 – 18 September 2025) was an Irish-bred and Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career that lasted from March 2002 until April 2009, he ran thirty-five times and won 15 races, ten of them at Grade I level. including the 2006 Champion Hurdle. From 2005 until he was retired, Brava Inca ran in sixteen successive Grade I races.
Background
[edit]Brave Inca was bred in Ireland by D.W. McAuley. His sire was Good Thyne, an American-bred stallion who produced the winners of over 600 jumps races in Britain and Ireland.[2] He was the first foal of his dam, the unraced Wigwam Mam. He was sold as a foal for 1,600gns at Tattersalls and as a yearling for IR£6,000,[3] eventually becoming the property of the Novices Syndicate. He was trained throughout his career by Colm Murphy in the village of Killenagh, near Gorey, County Wexford.[4]
Early career (2001–2004)
[edit]Brave Inca began his career by running unplaced in minor hurdle races at Navan and Wexford in March of the 2001/2002 season. The following season began similarly with down-the-field efforts in minor hurdle events at Fairyhouse and Naas. In these two races, he was ridden by Barry Cash, who became his regular jockey for the next three seasons. In March 2003, he was switched to National Hunt flat races and began to show improvement, winning "bumpers" at Fairyhouse and Navan[5] by wide margins.
Because of his early failures, Brave Inca entered the 2003/2004 season as a novice hurdler. He then went unbeaten in five starts. After picking up two handicaps before Christmas, he won his first major prize by defeating Newmill in the Grade I Deloitte Novice Hurdle.[6] At Cheltenham, he was sent off 7-2 favourite for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle and won by a neck over future Cheltenham Gold Cup winner War of Attrition.[7] The win provoked "near-hysterical" celebrations among the large Irish contingent, with Colm Murphy being carried shoulder-high into the winner's enclosure.[8] In his final start of the season in the Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown, Brave Inca defeated the English-trained Top Novices' Hurdle winner Royal Shakespeare by a short head.[9][10]
Rise to the Championship (2004–2006)
[edit]
In the 2004/5 season, Brave Inca won once from seven starts. On his debut at Dromore in November, he narrowly failed to give 10 lbs to Macs Joy1 , a horse he met many times over the subsequent seasons. Later in the same month, he ran second to the mare Solerina in the two-and-a-half-mile Hatton's Grace Hurdle. Two more second places followed in the December Festival Hurdle[12] and the Irish Champion Hurdle with Macs Joy victorious on both occasions.
Brave Inca was sent off as a 10-1 chance for his first attempt at the Champion Hurdle in March 2005. In an eventful race, he finished third, beaten two necks by Hardy Eustace, who won his second championship, and Harchibald, who had seemed certain to win after the final hurdle.[13] As a result of this effort, Brave Inca was sent off 2-1 favourite for the Aintree Hurdle but fell for the first and only time in his career. A season of near-misses ended as he rallied after being headed close home to defeat Harchibald and Macs Joy in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle, in which he was ridden for the first time by Tony McCoy.[14]
Although he was already seven years old at the start of the 2005/6 season, Brave Inca appeared to be reaching his peak, an impression that was confirmed when McCoy rode him to victory in the Morgiana Hurdle, beating Harchibald and Macs Joy again.[15] After another failed attempt at the Hatton's Grace Hurdle, he confirmed his superiority over the best two-mile hurdlers in Ireland with an "easy" and "convincing" victory in the December Festival Hurdle after which he was quoted as 5-1 joint favourite for the Championship.[16] A triumph in the Irish Champion Hurdle[17] meant that he was seen as the potential champion by the time of the 2006 Cheltenham Festival[18] Sent off 7-4 favourite in a field of 18, Brave Inca landed the odds in the Champion Hurdle, winning by a length from Macs Joy, with Hardy Eustace three lengths back in third. "He's all there", said Murphy after the race. "He's a complete horse now."[19] On his final start of the season, Brave Inca finished second to Macs Joy in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle.[citation needed]
Later career
[edit]In 2006/7, Brave Inca won the Hatton's Grace Hurdle at his third attempt and a second December Festival Hurdle, as well as finishing runner-up in the Irish Champion Hurdle. In the Champion Hurdle, he defeated most of the leading contenders, including Detroit City and Hardy Eustace, but finished second, three lengths behind the surprise 16-1 winner Sublimity.[20]
Brave Inca missed the whole of the 2007/8 season with a tendon injury[21] but returned in 2008/9. Although now well past his best, he managed one last major victory by winning the Irish Champion Hurdle at the age of 11,[22] after which Colm Murphy described him as "unbelievable, one in a million. He's as tough as nails".[23]
Retirement
[edit]Brave Inca was retired from racing after running down the field in the 2009 Champion Hurdle.[24] He had not retired from competition, becoming a successful show-horse.[25] He had also been used to raise funds for the "Playing for Life" charity by taking part in a "Man vs Horse" race at Leopardstown in December 2010.[26]
Brave Inca died on 18 September 2025 after contracting colic. Murphy commented "He was an absolute gentleman... he was a joy of a horse in every sense. He had it all and he spoke for himself. He had plenty of class, but behind it all he was lazy. He would always come off the bridle and make it look like hard work but he was a very intelligent horse".[27]
Pedigree
[edit]| Sire Good Thyne (USA) 1977 |
Herbager 1956 |
Vandale | Plassy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanille | |||
| Flagette | Escamillo | ||
| Fidgette | |||
| Foreseer 1969 |
Round Table | Princequillo | |
| Knights Daughter | |||
| Regal Gleam | Hail To Reason | ||
| Miz Carol | |||
| Dam Wigwam Mam (IRE) 1993 |
Commanche Run 1981 |
Run The Gantlet | Tom Rolfe |
| First Feather | |||
| Volley | Ratification | ||
| Mitrailleuse | |||
| Rozifer 1978 |
Lucifer | Crimson Satan | |
| La Joliette | |||
| Rozeen | Merry Rose | ||
| Pandomas (Family: 8-c) |
Notes
[edit]1 Macs Joy: This is the correct spelling. There is no apostrophe.
References
[edit]- ^ "Inca wins horse of the year award". BBC News. 15 May 2006.
- ^ "Good Thyne Stud Record". Racing Post. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Wigwam Mam (IRE) progeny sales record". Racing Post. Retrieved 4 September 2011.[dead link]
- ^ "Trainer Colm Murphy :: Brave Inca". Colmmurphyracing.ie. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Results from the 5.30 race at NAVAN (IRE) – 22 March 2003". Racing Post. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Deloitte Novice Hurdle". Racing Post. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Supreme Novices' Hurdle". Racing Post. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ Montgomery, Sue (17 March 2004). "Cash and Brave Inca start Irish celebrations". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Champion Novice Hurdle". Racing Post. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ Armytage, Marcus (28 April 2004). "Afternoon stroll for foot-perfect Flyer". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ Kelso, Paul (16 March 2004). "Plain sailing so far for Brave Inca, fast-rising star and the pride of Killena". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "Festive success for Macs Joy". BBC News. 29 December 2004. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Champion Hurdle 2005". Racing Post. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Punchestown Champion Hurdle". Racing Post. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Brave Inca Is Champion Material". mirror.co.uk. 21 November 2005. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ Armytage, Marcus (30 December 2005). "Brave Inca 5-1 for Champion after easy win". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Irish Champion Hurdle 2006". Racing Post. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Champion Hurdle favourite Brave Inca Excels in Workout". thejockeyclub.co.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Champion Run from Brave Inca". The Telegraph. London. 14 March 2006. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
- ^ "Champion Hurdle 2007". Racing Post. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ Tony Paley (29 August 2007). "Brave Inca set to miss jumps season with tendon injury". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Horse racing: Brave Inca takes Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown". the Guardian. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ McGrath, Chris (26 January 2009). "Brave Inca regains title as iron horse of Ireland – Racing, Sport". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Brave Inca". Racing Post. 2 June 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ "Brave Inca wins at Dublin Horse Show again". Irishracing.com. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
- ^ "Brave Inca scores a win with a difference". Wexfordpeople.ie. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^ 'Champion Hurdle winner Brave Inca dies aged 27'. RTÉ Sport, 18 September 2025. Retrieved 18 September 2025
- ^ "Brave Inca". Equineline. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.