Haiti Couleurs

The resume is extraordinary. This horse has won the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, the Irish Grand National, the Welsh Grand National, and the Denman Chase at Newbury — four of the most prestigious staying chases in the sport. Two of those are Class 1 races, the very top tier of British racing. Trainer Rebecca Curtis, based in Newport, Pembrokeshire, says the switch to jumping fences sparked a transformation, and the evidence backs her up entirely. Since a debut hurdle win by 18 lengths in March 2024, Haiti Couleurs has reeled off eight more victories in under two years.

The partnership with jockey Sean Bowen is one of the most productive in jump racing right now. Together they have won 7 of their 11 races — that is nearly two in every three times they line up together. Bowen's post-race comments after the Cheltenham win were candid ("Haiti Couleurs was as flat as a pancake") which tells you something interesting: this horse can win even when it is not at its very best. Curtis was equally honest after the most recent Newbury victory in February — she admitted the horse does not love wet, testing ground, and that a better surface will suit him more. The fact that he still won on it says everything about his class.

That Newbury win has opened up a conversation about the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Curtis admitted she was nervous heading into the race with the Gold Cup build-up already swirling, but said it is "job done" and they can now freshen the horse up for the biggest prize in jump racing. Rebecca Curtis's yard has sent out 18 winners this season, and Haiti Couleurs is comfortably their star — a horse who has gone from winning a hurdle race to becoming a genuine Gold Cup contender in under two years. The journey, as Curtis herself put it, has been amazing.