[4] Brave Inca began his career by running unplaced in minor hurdle races at Navan and Wexford in March of the 2001/2002 season.

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.

[7] The win provoked "near-hysterical" celebrations among the large Irish contingent, with Colm Murphy being carried shoulder-high into the winner's enclosure.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.