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The Welsh-trained Haiti Couleurs could look to do the immortal Gold Cup-Grand National double this season as Pembrokeshire trainer Rebecca Curtis plots a huge season ahead.
He was one of the horses of last season when becoming the first overseas winner of the Irish Grand National in 11 years and also giving the Newport yard success at the Cheltenham Festival.
Now Curtis, who enjoyed a revival season last campaign, hopes he will emerge into one of the top chasers this season as she eyes the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March, where he would look to be the first Welsh winner since Norton’s Coin’s unforgettable 150-1 shock in 1990.
She also hopes champion jockey Sean Bowen will be available to ride for the season.
He is, however, contracted to ride for another stable and missed out when Haiti Couleurs landed the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham under fellow Welshman Ben Jones.
The trainer says there is a “possibility” the eight-year-old could run in the Grand National after the Gold Cup.
Jumps legend Golden Miller is the only horse to have done the double in 1934, while the drought for a Welsh winner of Aintree’s big race is even longer.
Kirkland was the only Welsh-trained National winner 120 years ago but Dragonbet make Haiti Couleurs 14-1 favourite for the race.
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Curtis says: “The two races are just a thought, but there's a slight possibility we'll end up looking at both because he's the right sort of horse who could do it.
“He thrives on racing and doesn't seem to get too tired. Just three days after his races he's as fresh as anything.
“He's not slow, so going back in trip would be fine. He got to the front so easily in the Irish National and can go a real good gallop.
“The Gold Cup is an endless gallop and you want a horse who stays like he does, and jumps well.
“He's like a Synchronised or Native River [former Gold Cup winners], he's an out-and-out stayer and the best chaser we've had."
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Haiti Couleurs is expected to start his season in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on November 1 before being aimed at either the Coral Gold Cup or Betfair Chase.
Curtis has also earmarked Inishcorker as a horse to follow for the season.
The trainer is something of a specialist with long-distance hurdlers having won the Stayers’ at Cheltenham with Lisnagar Oscar and Albert Bartlett with At Fishers Cross.
"I really like Inishcorker,” she adds.
“He came highly recommended to us from Ireland, won a point-to-point and he's got such a nice way of going.
“I hope he'll be our Albert Bartlett horse. He relaxes, jumps well and he's almost got everything you need.”
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Curtis’s yard is one of Wales’s most successful at the big festivals with Haiti Couleurs her sixth Cheltenham Festival winner.
She also enjoyed victories at jump racing’s flagship meeting with O’Faolains Boy, Teaforthree and Irish Cavalier.
It was time on the California coast with Breeders' Cup legend Richard Mandella which gave Rebecca Curtis the fuel to set up her own training yard on Wales's west coast.
A return to Pembrokeshire came when she took out a licence in 2008, not far from where she previously worked for Peter Bowen, and proved to be an instant success.
Part of that came from her connections within the point-to-point ranks but within four years she enjoyed a Cheltenham Festival breakthrough and attracted the interest of jump racing's most important figure, JP McManus.
He bought into the highly rated prospect At Fishers Cross after a Ffos Las win in February 2012 and a year later the purchase was justified as he completed a Cheltenham-Aintree double.
Then came O'Faolains Boy, the gutsy Irish Cavalier as well as Scottish National hero Joe Farrell but it was in the midst of a quiet spell when Curtis finally captured a championship race. It came courtesy of Lisnagar Oscar in the 2020 Stayers' Hurdle.
Another quiet spell followed but up stepped Haiti Couleurs, producing arguably the greatest training win to defeat the Irish on home soil in the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse.
Perhaps though, the best is saved for this season.
