There has been no Welsh winner of the Gold Cup since 1990, but there are real hopes this time around that Pembrokeshire-based champion jockey Sean Bowen can end the long wait on board Haiti Couleurs in next weeks Cheltenham Festival.
The 9-year-old gelding trained by Rebecca Curtis has had quite the year, winning the 2025 National Hunt Chase, before triumphing under Bowen in both the Welsh and Irish Grand Nationals.
Currently fluctuating between 7 and 8/1 across the market as an outside choice, 28-year-old Bowen is now eager to make his mark with the gelding at the meeting.
“I genuinely think he comes here with a massive chance,” said Bowen, speaking at a Cheltenham Festival preview night hosted by Fairplay
“I am really, really looking forward to it, first of all. It’s a race that everybody dreams of winning when you start riding, so it is great to be riding a horse in the race with a chance.
“He loves Cheltenham, which is a huge factor; he stays very, very well. Native River went and won a Welsh National and went on to win a Gold Cup, it is definitely possible.
“He is a horse that has progressed all the time. He’ll stay, he’ll jump, and I think he’ll travel very well.
“I’ve known Rebecca [Curtis] a long time, and she only trains 20 or so horses, so for her to win a Gold Cup would be magical, as it normally goes the way of the big trainers. It would be special to win it for her.
“I think a few people suggested putting cheekpieces on him after the last day but I thought it was quite ideal the race as in no-one took him on, he was racing quite lazily out in front on his own and had a really nice prep run, quickened up the straight and didn’t have to do a whole lot so I thought his prep run went very well.
“Everything there will be perfect for him on the day, whether he is good enough or not, I don’t know, but he will have conditions that will suit him well.
“I think a strong gallop will only suit him, if he could have one or two to just tow him along in front, and we were sat second or third with a little bit of room on the outside of them, then it’ll be perfect. I think he took it up halfway in the National Hunt Chase last time at Cheltenham, and they never saw him for the rest of the race. He kept going and going.
“It is a race where they go an end-to-end gallop. I have only ridden in it once and couldn’t quite believe the speed we jumped off at and still finished at the same speed. They are very, very good horses, but I think that Haiti is a horse that is definitely going to stay very well, which you need.
“Everyone is going to want a nice position, whether there is a front runner or not, we will end up going a strong gallop, it is such a good race. If he gets in a good rhythm early then he will be thereabouts.
“If he makes the running – he nearly made all in the National Hunt chase and the Welsh National – then that won’t be any hindrance to us.
“He was never put in any sort of a competitive situation the last day at Newbury in the Denman Chase. I just jumped off on my own and lolloped away in front and was never taken on.
“The minute he heard a horse behind him, and he got competitive, he literally took off, and I was surprised with how he quickened up the straight at Newbury. He is a horse that likes competition, and once you’re out over the first few fences and in a rhythm, whether he makes all or sits second or third, I will be happy if he passes the line in front.”
Sean Bowen was speaking at a Cheltenham Festival preview night hosted by Fairplay”
