It’s nine years since Rebecca Curtis last trained a winner in Ireland but the Welsh based handler has a huge runner at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday.
Curtis’ last Irish success came in 2016 when Irish Cavalier, the horse who gave Paul Townend his second Cheltenham winner, won at the Punchestown Festival.
Now her Cheltenham Festival winning star Haiti Couleurs is hoping to add Monday’s BoyleSports Irish Grand National to her tally here and complete a unique double.
Haiti Couleurs was an impressive winner of the National Hunt Challenge Cup last month at Cheltenham under Ben Jones and Curtis is now hoping to strike in Fairyhouse’s annual Easter highlight.
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.
The horses' owners have even booked a table for twelve in the Co Meath racecourse's restaurant and are coming to take on the Irish in their own backyard.
“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 been super consistent 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 to Ireland and first overseas 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 at 7/1 for the Festival feature on Bank 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.”
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