Haiti Couleurs has yet to tackle the Grand National proper, but has already won the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse and may yet contest the 2025 Welsh Grand National at Chepstow over Christmas, with trainer Rebecca Curtis warming to the idea of a return to handicap company for her stable star. Aside from the Irish Grand National, the eight-year-old also won the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2025 and made a successful reappearance, in a Pertemps Hurdle Series Qualifier, at Newbury in November.
However, Haiti Couleurs did rather blot his copybook when never travelling, and eventually pulled up, in the Betfair Chase at Haydock on his only subsequent start. Nevertheless, Curtis was keen to put a line through that performance, telling the ‘Racing Post’, “You can hear people say, ‘He’s just a handicapper’, but that’s absolute nonsense; it was nothing to do with ability yesterday, it just wasn’t his day.” Indeed, Haiti Couleurs was subsequently diagnosed with a back injury and, having reportedly responded well to treatment, could take in the Welsh Grand National en route to the Cheltenham Gold Cup or the Grand National proper.
At the time of writing, Haiti Couleurs is top-priced at 50/1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup and 20/1 co-favourite of three for the Grand National, so it’ll be interesting to see how connections plot the remainder of his campaign. He’s currently rated 154 over fences by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), so a handicap campaign remains a realistic possibility at this early stage. He has winning form at up to 3 miles and 6 furlongs, on ground ranging from good to heavy, so the extra half a mile or so of the Grand National should hold no terrors for him, whatever the weather on Merseyside in the spring.
Indeed, as an eight-year-old with just six starts over regulation fences to his name, of which he has won four, Haiti Couleurs remains open to any amount of improvement. His handicap mark may need to be protected, but he is admirably tough, jumps neatly and may yet prove to be excellent value at the current odds on offer for the Grand National.