Rebecca Curtis is hoping Haiti Couleurs enjoys the rub of the green in the BoyleSports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Monday.
The progressive eight-year-old has enjoyed a near-perfect campaign which looked to have culminated in a well-planned success at the Cheltenham Festival.
Haiti Couleurs made his chase debut at Chepstow in October, finishing second to Destroythevidence, before winning at Aintree and Cheltenham. He reverted to hurdles at Newbury in order to protect his mark ahead of the National Hunt Chase and that move paid dividends as he stayed on well to justify favouritism, beating Rock My Way by four and a half lengths.
The season did not end there, however, for Haiti Couleurs who is due to line up in Ireland on Easter Monday but Curtis told Racing TV's Luck On Sunday that the Irish Grand National was not part of the original plan.
"Not really, I suppose it was about a week after Cheltenham I thought the Irish Grand National might really suit him so it was an afterthought rather than planned early on," she said.
She is, though, more than happy with Haiti Couleurs ahead of what is, arguably, his toughest task to date.
"He's had a nice couple of days to settle in, he's very well and I'm very happy with him," she continued.
"Cheltenham was amazing because it's not often a plan works out so well. His whole season has been flawless really and everything worked out well in the end.
"I'm confident everything's right for him. I don't think we've had the horse any better. I think he's probably on quite a nice mark still and we know he stays the trip.
"Everything is perfect but for these big races you do have to have a little bit of luck, there are a lot of runners and everything needs to go right so I think it's luck we need more than anything."
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