The 2006 Champion Hurdle was a horse race held at Cheltenham Racecourse on Tuesday 14 March 2006. It was the 76th running of the Champion Hurdle.
The winner was the Novice Syndicate's Brave Inca, an eight-year-old gelding trained in Ireland by Colm Murphy and ridden by A. P. McCoy. The victory was the first in the race, for the owner and trainer. McCoy had previously won the race on Make A Stand in 1997.
Brave Inca started the 7/4 favourite and won by a length from Macs Joy, with Hardy Eustace, who had won the race for the last two years in third. Fourteen of the eighteen runners completed the course.
Race details Sponsor: Smurfit Kappa Purse: £350,000; First prize: £202,683 Going: Good to Soft Distance: 2 miles 110 yards Number of runners: 18 Winner's time: 3m 50.00
Full result Pos. Marg. Horse (bred) Age Jockey Trainer (Country) Odds 1 Brave Inca (IRE) 8 Tony McCoy Colm Murphy (IRE) 7/4 fav 2 1 Macs Joy (IRE) 7 Barry Geraghty Jessica Harrington (IRE) 13/2 3 3½ Hardy Eustace (IRE) 9 Conor O'Dwyer Dessie Hughes (IRE) 11/2 4 6 Al Eile (IRE) 6 Timmy Murphy John Queally (IRE) 8/1 5 ¾ Arcalis (GB) 6 Graham Lee Howard Johnson (GB) 9/1 6 9 Briareus (GB) 6 Thomas Greenall Andrew Balding (GB) 20/1 7 shd Kawagino (IRE) 6 Jamie Moore Seamus Mullins (GB) 500/1 8 ¾ Faasel (IRE) 6 Tony Dobbin Nicky Richards (GB) 16/1 9 shd The French Furze (IRE) 12 Brian Harding Nicky Richards (GB) 150/1 10 8 Royal Shakespeare (FR) 7 Tom Scudamore Tom Gollings (GB) 100/1 11 6 Intersky Falcon (IRE) 9 Mick Fitzgerald Jonjo O'Neill (GB) 66/1 12 15 Admiral (IRE) 5 Paul O'Neill Richard Guest (GB) 150/1 13 dist Astonville (FR) 12 Benjamin Hitchcott Phillippe Cottin (FR) 500/1 14 dist Fiepes Shuffle (GER) 6 Paul Carberry Christian von der Recke (GER) 50/1 PU Leo's Luckyman (USA) 7 John McNamara Roger Brookhouse (GB) 500/1 PU Turnium (FR) 11 James Davies Phillippe Cottin (FR) 500/1 Fell Asian Maze (IRE) 7 Ruby Walsh Thomas Mullins (FIRE) 12/1 Fell Penzance (GB) 5 Robert Thornton Alan King (GB) 40/1
Abbreviations: nse = nose; nk = neck; hd = head; dist = distance; UR = unseated rider; PU = pulled up
Winner's details Further details of the winner, Brave Inca Sex: Gelding Foaled: 20 April 1998 Country: Ireland Sire: Good Thyne; Dam: Wigwam Mam (Commanche Run) Owner: Novices Syndicate Breeder: D. W. Macauley
References