Inca and Harchibald head classy card
Brave Inca and Harchibald are set to clash in a mouth-watering renewal of the Maple Development Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown on Sunday.
The pair finished first and second in the Champion Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival and renew rivalry in the €70,000 Grade Two contest, with Macs Joy, who finished third, also in the line-up.
Tony McCoy gave Brave Inca a brilliant ride that day to get home by a head and a length and the champion jockey has once again been booked by trainer Colm Murphy.
The Noel Meade-trained Harchibald won the Morgiana in 2004 and was runner-up to Hardy Eustace in the Smurfit Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last March, when Brave Inca finished a neck back in third.
The former, a six-year-old, was a fortunate winner at Tipperary on his return last month after he was left clear by the last-flight fall of Solerina.
Jessica Harrington’s Macs Joy finished fifth behind Hardy Eustace at Cheltenham but had previously landed the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown in January.
Adding further spice to an intriguing contest is Essex, winner of the Pierse Hurdle at Leopardstown and the totesport Trophy at Newbury last spring.
On the same card, there are five declared for the Grade Two Volkswagen Jetta Craddockstown Novice Chase with recent Punchestown winner Wild Passion out to keep his unbeaten record over fences intact.
Meade’s charge faces four useful rivals with Eamonn Sheehy’s Justified, successful on his first appearance over fences last month, out to enhance his lofty reputation.
