Irish National aim for National Hunt hero Haiti Couleurs

Haiti Couleurs has the BoyleSports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on April 21 as an end-of-season target.

Trained by Rebecca Curtis, the eight-year-old was a comfortable winner of the new version of the National Hunt Chase, which is now run as a novices’ handicap with professionals permitted to ride.

Sent off the 7-2 joint-favourite and partnered by Ben Jones, Haiti Couleurs never looked in danger all the way round, jumping with aplomb and powering up the hill to win by four and a half lengths.

“He’s come out of the race really well, probably the best he ever has to be fair,” said Curtis, who was back on the Festival scoresheet for the first time since Lisnagar Oscar’s Stayers’ Hurdle win in 2020.

“We’re having a really good think about running him in the Irish National now, I think it will really suit him. He goes on good ground, he stays well and it is a race novices have a good record in – it also suits timing-wise after Cheltenham. I also think it will be a bit of fun for the owners as well!

“I said after the race it was almost like watching him in slow motion, he always looked comfortable, so I was delighted.

“It is not often you have a plan in this game and everything works out perfectly, but his season has.

“It was tempting at Christmas time to see if we went to the next level with him and find out if he’s a graded horse, but I’m glad we stuck to our guns and went the route we did because obviously it paid off in the end.”

Aintree could be on the agenda next season, although given the standard needed there in recent years, Curtis is in no rush to commit just yet.

She added: “He’s likely to be mid 140s now. I don’t know about next year yet, even if we try him in a graded race, the way the National is going, you need to be a graded horse to stand a chance anyway, so I don’t think it’s a case of either or. We’ll see how his next race goes and take it from there, I guess.

“The Gold Cup winner is this year’s favourite and I think the first four last year were all graded horses, so it’s not easy.”