Chepstow was painted red on Saturday when the Rebecca Curtis-trained Haiti Couleurs bounded to a famous home win in the £170,000 Coral Welsh Grand National under champion jockey Sean Bowen.
Curtis is based in Pembrokeshire and used to babysit Bowen, whose father Peter gave the trainer her first job in racing.
In Haiti Couleurs, the pair had a great chance of landing the near-£100,000 first prize as the eight-year-old had won the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March before following up with an Irish Grand National triumph a month later.
He returned with a fluent victory over hurdles at Newbury in November, but then flopped in Haydock’s Betfair Chase, although Curtis never lost faith in her flagbearer, who went off a 5-1 chance in Wales’ best race.
Prominent early on, the gelding led after the seventh fence and stayed in front, while a minor mistake three out did not seem to trouble him in the slightest.
O'Connell appeared a threat approaching the last, but Haiti Couleurs stuck on gamely to provide Curtis and Bowen with a memorable afternoon in their homeland.
“I’m absolutely delighted to get him back because I was upset after Haydock,” said Curtis, who suffered agony in the Chepstow marathon in 2013 when Teaforthree was second. “He’s back to his best, which is brilliant. Sean had to go to the front because he couldn’t hold him and when he’s like that, he’s at his best.
“It’s amazing. I’m Welsh, as is Sean and most of my staff. It’s a big, prestigious race we’ve always wanted to win. We went close with Teaforthree and it’s nice to finally do it.”
Haiti Couleurs is the general 14-1 second-favourite for the Grand National at Aintree in April, while his odds for the Cheltenham Gold Cup now range from 14-1 to 33-1.
“Winning a Welsh National is what it’s all about,” Bowen beamed. “To do it on a Welsh horse for Becky is like doing it for family. She used to babysit me when I was little, so this means the world.
“It’s an incredible training performance and I don’t think people will appreciate how good a job she’s done to bring him back from Haydock.
“You want to win all the big races but in Wales you have the crowd behind you and I’ve finally caught up with my brother James (who won on Raz De Maree in 2017), which is good.”
Bowen had to settle for second on Banbridge in the King George VI Chase - the other big race over Christmas - but there was still a Welsh angle to the winner as Carmarthen-born jockey Ben Jones narrowly prevailed from his countryman on The Jukebox Man, who is owned by Harry Redknapp.
“He’s always had some engine and this is brilliant,” said Jones, whose father Dai is clerk of the course at Chepstow, where racing again takes place on Sunday with seven races programmed for a 12.45pm start.
