Haiti Couleurs leads six-strong Rebecca Curtis charge at Fairyhouse
The Cheltenham Festival winner is favourite to land the BoyleSports Irish Grand National
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Rebecca Curtis is hoping for another memorable trip to Ireland this weekend
Welsh trainer Rebecca Curtis is preparing for a six-strong raid on Fairyhouse over the Easter weekend with her travelling battalion led by BoyleSports Irish Grand National favourite Haiti Couleurs.
Curtis is no stranger to success on Irish soil, with Mystical Knight getting her off the mark under Barry Geraghty at Naas back in March 2016 and Irish Cavalier winning the Guinness Handicap Chase at the Punchestown Festival later that year.
Post-Brexit logistical challenges have made trips across the Irish Sea less common in recent times but the prospect of Haiti Couleurs adding the Easter Festival showpiece to his Cheltenham Festival success in the National Hunt Challenge Cup has proven too tempting to resist.
The eight-year-old gave his three-strong ownership syndicate The Brizzle Boys a day to savour in March and Curtis, who is based in Pembrokeshire, hopes another one may follow this weekend.
👏 Classy performance - Haiti Couleurs wins the National Hunt Chase pic.twitter.com/9sauNlytFc
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 11, 2025
“He had a quiet couple of weeks after Cheltenham but he has been full swing this month," she said.
"He seems very well in himself, he’s really good, he's all healthy - it's all systems go.
“Cheltenham was amazing. Plans don’t always work out but he had such a smooth run up to it and he was strongly fancied for that race.
“It’s great when a plan comes off and I was most pleased for his owners. They are the best bunch of people who have been so supportive of me over the last five years, so I was delighted for them.
“The initial thought after Cheltenham was trying him in a graded race at Aintree but he’s a horse with so much stamina that anything beyond three miles is a big advantage for him.
“Novices have a great record in the Irish National, three mile five gives you an extra distance you wouldn’t get in a graded novice chase, and it’s great prize money. It’s our first time at this meeting and we are really looking forward to it.”
Haiti Couleurs has not finished outside the places in five outings this season, with victories at Cheltenham’s December meeting and over 3m1f at Aintree in November preceding his Festival triumph.
This is his first trip outside the UK but Curtis is looking forward to the challenge of taking on a stacked home team.
“When I spoke to my owners initially, they said ‘the Irish come over here and beat us, why would we go over and take them on?’,” Curtis said.
“But to be fair, most horses we’ve taken over to Ireland over the years have run well and we’ve had a few winners there.
“It is better prize money and it’s a nice experience for owners to go over to Irish races, especially the type of owners we have, they love going to Ireland.
“It’s great to go over and get results, and we hope we do, but at the same time it’s just a really nice day out. The people are so friendly and welcoming, it’s great.”
Haiti Couleurs is currently priced around 7/1 for the Festival feature on Monday afternoon and champion jockey-elect Sean Bowen will be able to take the ride, having seen a recent ban for careless riding at Aintree reduced on appeal.
Reflecting on her horse’s place at the top of the market, Curtis said: “It means more pressure for me!
“It’s great to have a favourite but at the same time, I felt loads of pressure before Cheltenham when we were favourite there.
“But it means he travels with a good chance and perhaps it helps with Willie (Mullins) after the British Championship, you wonder if he might not run things he may have run. But I’m sure there will still be plenty of tough competition.”
The National favourite will be joined on the trip across by stablemates The Boola Boss, Andy Amo, Ben Solo, Pats Fancy and Idefix De Ciergues as Curtis hopes to end a strong season on a high.
“The horses have been really consistent this year, we’ll finish on a nice strike rate of 20 per cent and a Cheltenham Festival winner is always a massive bonus,” she said.
“We have around 20-22 horses, including some nice novices for next season who will hopefully make nice three-mile staying chasers. That’s what we’ve always done really well with.
“A winner this weekend would be amazing. Winning any National is great but I’ve always been told the Irish one is a very hard race to win, which it obviously is. It would be absolutely brilliant.”