Brave Inca (centre) - gutsy winner.

By PA Sport Staff

Tony McCoy laid his ghosts to rest in a race which encapsulated everything that has come to be associated with the Cheltenham Festival as Brave Inca got the best of a thrilling battle for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle.

The champion jockey came into this meeting with just one Festival victory in the last two years - a desperate tally for a man of McCoy's drive and determination.

And the emotion showed as Brave Inca, the 7-4 favourite, sent the grandstands into rapture with a battling display to land the hurdling crown.

It was everything punters have come to expect from Cheltenham; great racing, great jockeyship and total dominance from the Irish raiders.

The Colm Murphy-trained eight-year-old, a close third to Hardy Eustace 12 months ago, went two places better this time under a determined McCoy drive.

Having got the better of a head-to-head with Hardy Eustace which saw him scrap for the lead down the hill, it was then Macs Joy who emerged from behind the leading pair to throw down a challenge.

Macs Joy did his best on the run-in but never really looked like he was going to catch the winner with McCoy in full flight and went down by a length.

Hardy Eustace, winner for the past two years, was a brave third in his hat-trick attempt, a further three and a half lengths back, with Al Eile fourth to complete an Irish clean sweep of the places.

Murphy explained - in mixed metaphor - how McCoy and his horse helped to bring the best out in each other.

"Tony is as tough as old nails and he'd probably ride if he had no legs and no arms," he said.

"I think they're a match made in heaven. One is tough and the other is tougher but I don't know which is which.

"We always said the ground was the key to him and he didn't like it today but it just shows how tough he is and how gutsy he is.

"To have been involved with a horse since he was three, for five years, to know all his little problems, to go the long route with him you might say. It's just fantastic.

"We got so close last year and we thought about going chasing with him but to see how much he had improved over the summer there was never any question of doing anything other than coming back here for the Champion.

"You just knew there was a Champion in this fellow."

The winner is more likely to run next at Punchestown than Aintree after today's gruelling race.

McCoy, punching the air as he returned to the winner's enclosure, hailed his mount's performance.

"He pricked his ears going to the second-last and he'd got loads left," he said. "Like Muhammad Ali said, you've got to have the will and the skill and the desire and this fellow's got it all.

"I was a bit worried going past the water jump because I knew he would come off the bridle and I was frightened about getting after him too early.

"But I knew that even though he's lazy, he's certainly not slow and he picked up well when I asked him.

"When I rode him at Punchestown I thought then that he would win the Champion Hurdle and I really built myself up for this. It's just the fact that he has gone and done it that gets you even more excited."

Jessica Harrington reported Macs Joy is likely to seek revenge upon the winner at Punchestown.

Standing her ground about questions over her charge's resolution, she said: "He ran on up the hill. There has been a lot said about him not being able to come up this hill but he got up it well.

"He was very lucky when Asian Maze fell that he didn't get brought down, but he didn't lose any ground.

"Barry (Geraghty) was very brave, he sat and waited and waited but he still couldn't get by Brave Inca.

"We will probably go to Punchestown and have another crack at Brave Inca, but I am absolutely thrilled with him, it was a big improvement on last year (when fifth).

"If the winner hadn't been there then he'd have been a good winner. It was a brilliant race and he's run the best in his life."

Dessie Hughes said he was proud of Hardy Eustace, whose preparation had been far from ideal.

"He ran a terrific race and we have to think about what might have been had he had a better preparation but I don't want to take anything away from the winner," he said.

"It's a pity we haven't got the third (title) but he will be a fitter horse now for Punchestown and the season is only starting now for him.

"He will probably go to Aintree then on to Punchestown."