‘I’m definitely excited’ – Curtis gearing up for Gold run

Rebecca Curtis is relishing Haiti Couleurs rsquo; chances in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup, being very much of the view she does not “know where his ceiling is”.

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The nine-year-old installed himself as one of the favourites for the blue riband in easing to a seven-length success in the Denman Chase at Newbury last weekend.

Haiti Couleurs has won five of the last six races he has completed, including the National Hunt Chase at Prestbury Park last year and the Irish and Welsh Grand Nationals, all of which is serving to boost Curtis’ confidence in her stable star.

“He’s come out of the race really, really well. I don’t think he had an overly-hard race to be honest,” she said of the gelding.

“I think he was in third gear for most of the way round and quickened up the straight. I don’t think he could have done any more really.

“He was smart, he was rolling along in front, jumping in horrible ground so it was just getting the job done really.

“I’m definitely excited. I see the handicapper has put him up 7lb so he’s now on 166, he’s creeping up to that sort of level.

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“He has really good form on good ground. The Welsh National was practically on good or even good to firm they were saying down the back.

“He won at Cheltenham last year on good ground, he’s got loads of very good form on nice ground. In fact, I think he prefers a bit better ground as I think he bounces off it.

“We keep saying we don’t really know where his ceiling is, it’s not as if he’s been beaten off a mark in a handicap and he does seem to just keep improving.

“Although he is a nine-year-old, he’s lightly raced so the big test will be in March now. We’ll see how good he is.”

Curtis was delighted with how the season had panned out for Haiti Couleurs as connections count down to the Gold Cup.

“We got that run in because we know he’s super, super fit at the moment,” the Pembrokeshire-based handler added.

“He’ll have a week to 10 days off now just to freshen up and then begin building back up with a few bits of work before.

We keep saying we don’t really know where his ceiling is, it’s not as if he’s been beaten off a mark in a handicap and he does seem to just keep improving.

Miss Rebecca Curtis on Haiti Couleurs

“I think that’s the nice thing about getting in that prep run, sometimes when you miss the prep run you can be a bit panicky and think ‘oh they aren’t fit enough’ and then you can end up doing too much with them before big races. That’s why I like the plan we’ve done with him.”

When asked about a tilt at a possible Gold Cup and Grand National double, Curtis said: “I’m not going to say I’m not thinking about the two.

“I’m not going to decide anything really, we’re going to get him ready for Cheltenham Gold Cup and anything else is a second thought after that.”