Inca and Shakespeare set for Punchestown clash

Cheltenham and Aintree winners Brave Inca and Royal Shakespeare look set to clash in a brilliant renewal of the €85,000 Grade 1 Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown´s Irish National Hunt Festival on Tuesday, April 27.

Brave Inca has not run since giving up-and-coming Co Kerry handler Colm Murphy his biggest success when landing the Letheby & Christopher Supreme Novices´ Hurdle at Cheltenham, and connections are favouring a tilt at the two-mile Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle rather than the half-mile longer €90,000 Grade 1 Menolly Homes Champion Novice Hurdle on Friday, April 30.

'Brave Inca definitely goes to Punchestown but we haven´t completely decided which race he will run in,' said Murphy. 'We´ll make a decision towards the end of this week after seeing what the weather´s like but I´m definitely leaning towards the two-mile race on Tuesday rather than the two-and-a-half mile contest.

'We let him down after Cheltenham and there´s not a bother on him. He´s in great form now - I couldn´t be happier with him - and if all went to plan Punchestown was always going to be his last race of the season.

'The reaction to Cheltenham has just been unbelievable, it really has been unreal, crazy to say the least. There´s much less pressure now after Cheltenham but to win at Punchestown would be a real bonus.'

But Lincolnshire handler Steve Gollings is not afraid to pitch Royal Shakespeare, winner of the Grade 2 Premier Convenience Store Novices´ Hurdle at Aintree earlier this month, against Brave Inca.

The five-year-old, who is unbeaten in three runs over hurdles, also holds an entry in the Menolly Homes Champion Novice Hurdle, but Gollings is favouring Tuesday´s Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle.

'The original plan with Royal Shakespeare after Aintree was to put the wraps back on him and put him away but we´ve decided that he´s only a novice for this season so we are going to take our chance at Punchestown,' said Gollings.

'Which race he contests depends on the prevailing ground conditions but as it has gone soft at this stage I´m now looking to go for the two-mile novice on Tuesday.

'Make no mistake about him, he´s unbeaten and that was a fairish race he won at Aintree. I´d have to say we haven´t seen the best of him by a long way yet. He´s still a bit of a playboy and it´s all a game to him but each time he´s run he has improved and I would really expect him to get better again. When the penny drops he´s a serious racehorse.

'He came out of Aintree 100 per cent without a mark on him and if anything he could be too fresh. We´ve got nothing to lose, if we´re beaten then fair enough, but I believe he´s well good enough, it´s a valuable race and we´ve got to take our chance. I´d hope Robert Thornton would take the mount again but there won´t be a shortage of jockeys wanting the ride.'

The four-day Irish National Hunt Festival features record prize money of over €1.7 million and takes place from Tuesday, April 27, to Friday, April 30.