Haiti Couleurs has sights set on Cheltenham Gold Cup

Rebecca Curtis has identified the Denman Chase at Newbury as a possible stepping-stone to the Cheltenham Gold Cup for her stable star Haiti Couleurs.

Last season’s National Hunt Chase and Irish Grand National hero made a winning reappearance over hurdles at Newbury in November before disappointing as a leading fancy for the Betfair Chase at Haydock.

However, connections quickly identified a back issue as the cause of that below-par performance and he roared back to form with a superb weight-carrying effort in the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow for his Welsh trainer and Welsh jockey Sean Bowen.

Having seen the eight-year-old raised 5lb by the handicapper to a revised mark of 159, Curtis admits a tilt at the Grand National itself is “very tempting”, but she is first keen to roll the dice in steeplechasing’s blue riband event in the Cotswolds with a horse she feels may not have reached his ceiling just yet.

“He’s come out the race really well, I’m very happy with him and he’s very fresh,” she told the Press Association on Wednesday.

“I thought it was a really, really good performance. The National is very tempting, but we really want to give him a go in the Gold Cup, that’s not to say he won’t run in the two.

“His next (big) task will be the Gold Cup because I do genuinely think he’s still improving. I know he’s on a mark of 159, but who’s to say there isn’t another 5lb or 10lb in him? We just don’t know.

“You don’t often get what I think is a horse with a real chance in the Gold Cup. Whether anyone else thinks that or not I don’t know, but I do.”

When asked whether she plans to give Haiti Couleurs another run before Cheltenham in March, Curtis added: “Possibly, only because he is a horse that thrives on his racing. If he was to run again it would be something like the Denman Chase at Newbury in February.

“The Cotswold Chase (at Cheltenham on January 24) would possibly be a bit too soon, but we’re not ruling anything out. We’ll let him get over this now and make a plan in the next couple of weeks.

“I’d like to give him another run, as the Gold Cup is one of those races you need to be so fit for and I don’t think he’s the type of horse you need to wrap up in cotton wool and mind.

“He does thrive on his racing, so it would be nice to give him one run in between now and March.”