Rebecca Curtis is looking forward to a good performance from Welsh Grand National winner Haiti Couleurs when he lines up in Saturday’s Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup.
The nine-year-old produced one of the best weight-carrying performances seen for some time when beating O’Connell by three lengths under 11st 13lb in the Chepstow spectacle last month, but Curtis revealed to Richard Hoiles on Racing TV that he is raring to go for his next assignment.
“We will get the ferry from Pembroke on Thursday afternoon so it gives him two evenings before the race,” explained Curtis.
“We will stable him down the road, somewhere nice and quiet.
“He doesn’t mind travelling and he’s really well, we couldn't be happier with him at the moment. He looks bigger than when he ran in the Welsh National, he looked a bit ribby and light at Haydock, but has really held his condition well this time.
“He looks really well and happy and ready to go again.
“It was great to have him back in form after his hiccup the time before. It was a big ask under that big weight but he did it well.”
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The Welsh trainer is stepping her stable star back out of handicap company into a Grade 1, but believes that it was the horse - rather than the level of racing - that wasn't right when he was pulled up in the Betfair Chase at Haydock back in November.
“He didn't sweat at Haydock so I knew something was wrong. He’s normally chomping at the bit to get going, but he wasn’t like that – it didn’t matter what grade of racing it was," she explained.
“He can be a bit fizzy in the preliminaries, he gets a bit sweaty at home, but it doesn't worry me.
“He can be highly-strung but he seems to be growing up and things seem to be coming easier to him.
“He is nearly rated 160 so where else would you go with him? We don’t know where his ceiling is, so this looks a good option to see where we are with him.
“I don't think it rules him out of the Grand National as some very good horses run in it, but I think it probably does rule him out of the other ones.”
Haiti Couleurs’ rise up the handicapping ranks has led to a large following amongst horse-racing fans, however Curtis revealed that there were once fears that he might not even race following an early injury after an ignominious beginning at the 2022 Horses In Training sales.
She recalled: “He was only second in his point to point but I loved him as a model, he had a really good look to him. His sire wasn’t overly well-known and that might have put people off but he caught my eye that day.
“He was ready to run in his novice hurdle at Chepstow, we schooled him a fortnight before, but he had a very serious tendon injury – straight into surgery – and we weren't even sure he’d race again.
“We are very lucky to have him.”
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