Rain required for Haiti Couleurs reappearance

Significant rainfall will be needed for Haiti Couleurs to make his eagerly-awaited return at Ascot on Saturday, with Rebecca Curtis indicating a run over hurdles in the coming weeks could be most likely for her star chaser.

The eight-year-old had connections dreaming of Gold Cup tilts this season when winning at the Cheltenham Festival before following up in the Irish Grand National in the spring and has the option of returning at Ascot in the Sodexo Live! Gold Cup Handicap Chase or Sunday’s Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase at Carlisle.

However, Curtis is unsure if ground conditions will mean either race is suitable, making a run over the smaller obstacles likely for Haiti Couleurs ahead of either the Betfair Chase on November 22 or Coral Gold Cup at Newbury a week later.

Curtis said: “Unless the rain changes things by the end of the week, I wouldn’t want to be going to Ascot if the ground was too quick.

“I put him in at Carlisle but two and a half isn’t really his ideal trip. I just felt with the Charlie Hall on good ground, you are putting a gun to his head early in the season in a race like that against some of the entries I saw.

“I would say it’s unlikely he will run this weekend unless there’s some rain. Although he’s gone on goodish ground in the past, I just think we’ve got bigger targets for him later in the season and you don’t want to be putting him under any risks on his first run.

“If he doesn’t go out this weekend, it’ll likely be a spin over hurdles at Newbury on November 6 or Aintree on November 8 in one of those Pertemps qualifiers. It’s just about getting a prep run into him really for when he goes for either the Coral Gold Cup or the Betfair Chase.

“We’ve been really pleased with him at home and we’re still in October so there is no mad rush to get him out for the sake of it. We’ll see and maybe the heavens will open by the end of the week and I might think differently.”