Haiti Couleurs collects brilliant Irish National victory
Haiti Couleurs put up a tremendous performance to win the Boylesports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse for Rebecca Curtis and Sean Bowen.
A winner at the Cheltenham Festival last month when his regular rider Bowen missed out, the champion jockey-elect in the UK was back in the saddle and gave his mount the perfect ride up front.
Sent off at 13-2, Haiti Couleurs was in the front pair throughout along with Bushmans Pass and when that one dropped away it became a case of could he hold on.
🇬🇧 The Brits strike in the €500,000 @BoyleSports Irish Grand National
Haiti Couleurs & @sean_bowen land the @Fairyhouse feature for @rebcurtis pic.twitter.com/yY0h311x8q
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) April 21, 2025
The Ted Walsh-trained veteran Any Second Now emerged as a big threat, as did the favourite Quai De Bourbon, while Dunboyne had also travelled well into contention.
But Bowen had saved plenty and he went away to win by three and a quarter lengths from the gallant Any Second Now – was was finishing in the runner-up spot for the second year running – with Quai De Bourbon third and Dunboyne fourth.
Bowen told RTE: 'I honestly can't believe it. He was doing a half-speed the whole way round, he was hacking and at the same time I was frightened as he got fairly revved up beforehand.
'I actually thought I'm a bit too keen, as he was doing everything in second gear. I'm so grateful to everyone, obviously I couldn't ride him at Cheltenham and I'm so grateful to Becky for letting me back on him.
'He just stays very well and jumps very, very well. No words, no words.'
Bowen – who was having just his second ride at Fairyhouse, his first being earlier in the day – added: 'To be champion jockey is all I've ever wanted and I supposed when you get it then you want to do more. I need the big winners as well and it's great that this lad has done it for me.'
Pembrokeshire-based Curtis said: 'Sean just said to me there 'I thought we had another circuit to go, I was in second gear the whole way'.
'He is so tough to do it like he has done it, on that ground as well as it was a bit of a worry – but it wasn't a bother to him.
'He does (travel through his races). Although he stays well, he is not what I call a slow horse at all. He has got a high cruising speed.
'I think this feels like one of our best wins, just the atmosphere and everything.
'I did feel the pressure, I haven't slept for about two weeks. I was calm until the last two fences.
'To me, it is a bigger win than Cheltenham because it is hard to come here and win an Irish handicap, I know that.'
When asked if he could be a Gold Cup horse next year, she replied: 'If he keeps improving, yes.'
Following the race, Walsh announced the JP McManus-owned Any Second Now – who has also finished runner-up and third in the Grand National at Aintree – had run his last race and would be retired.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wales Online
an hour ago
- Wales Online
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen hands over Cotswolds estate amid 'end of life crisis'
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen hands over Cotswolds estate amid 'end of life crisis' Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has announced that he has handed over the ownership of his Cotswolds estate to his sons-in-law Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen shared his "life-threatening" experience in his Sunday Times column (Image: Mike Marsland, Mike Marsland/WireImagevia Getty Images ) TV personality and design guru Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has passed on the ownership of his Cotswolds estate to his sons-in-law, following his struggle with a life-threatening experience. In January, the 60-year-old design icon opened up about an "end of life crisis" he endured after a chilling encounter while filming for Netflix's Celebrity Bear Hunt, presented by Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls, which saw him lose consciousness during an aquatic stunt. With his future in mind, the famed Changing Rooms presenter is "no longer lord of the manor" at the Cotswolds home, where he lives in the main house alongside his wife, Jackie, who is also 60, their daughter Hermione, aged 27, and her partner. His older daughter Cecile, 30, resides a stone's throw away within the estate with her husband and two children. During the process of transferring ownership, Laurence had a humorous time detailing to solicitors the nature of his decision: "One of the most amusing things was having to sit down with a solicitor for them to assess whether Jackie and I were being coerced into this by our bullying sons-in-law. Our friends just can't believe it. They go, 'what happens if you all fall out?'". Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen's grand country home in the Cotswolds (Image: llewelynbowen/Instagram ) Laurence, who boasts a net worth of £8 million, shared in the Sunday Times his disinterest in accumulating wealth for its own sake: "We're not going to be those old people sitting on a great big pile of cash. Terribly unhappy, terribly lonely," reports the Manchester Evening News. Article continues below He added: "Owning a lot of stuff but not actually having the benefit of it. We are very, very privileged, but we have made this decision. We have manifested this life." He went on to disclose a surprising detail about his family's property arrangements, with Hermione saying: "Hilariously, Cecile and I aren't on the deeds, because we inherit it anyway - it's actually the husbands.'" Discussing a harrowing experience on Bear Grylls' Celebrity Bear Hunt that aired in February, Laurence opened up about the frightening moment he faced during the filming. While participating in a water challenge in Costa Rica, the then-59 year old interior designer got entangled in a bungee line and was dragged beneath the boat, staying submerged for a terrifying length of time until the show's safety crew pulled him out unconscious. Prior to joining the extreme reality show, he revealed his wife's opinion on the matter: "She feels it's got midlife crisis written all over it, although, as I keep telling her, I'm too old to have a midlife crisis, this is more like an end of life crisis." Expressing his wife's envy towards his adventure, he said: "She's actually, frankly, incredibly jealous. She would love to do it and has always been mildly irritated that no one's ever asked her to do something like this." He also mentioned his wife's readiness for emergencies, noting: "Because she literally has always had in her handbag, a SAS Survival Guide, to get herself out of all sorts. I meant to bring it actually and again, how foolishly, I completely forgot." The Mail reports that Laurence invited his family to stay at his spacious Cotswolds estate after he and wife Jackie realised the house was too large just for the two of them, remarking they "were rattling around the house like dried peas in a luxury tin". As the house filled with family life, the star reflected on the changes, sharing: "We certainly aren't sliding into our sixtieth year with boredom calling. We want to use our time wisely and valuably. The way you design your world helps the way you feel. "We have our big manor house filled with children and pieces of brightly coloured plastic and Peppa Pig again." For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter Article continues below Laurence then mused about embracing this phase of life, adding: "I think its something that more and more people should be doing, for us boomers generation we're all sort of surprised we've made it to 60. "I think everyone thought we would live fast and die young rather than live very, very slowly and die really quite old."
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Cheltenham athletics track 'unfit for purpose', say club members
Concerns have been raised over the poor state of a running track which an athletics club says is putting some young athletes at risk of injury. The athletics club at the Prince of Wales Stadium in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, is calling on Cheltenham Borough Council to invest in the site.A total of 24 potential licensed competitions have not been held there since it failed the TrackMark accreditation test by England Athletics in council said it does not currently have a capital fund set aside to replace the track - which was estimated to cost £489,000 in October 2024. Jane Woolley is team manager for the under 17s and under 20s at the Cheltenham and County Harriers Athletics a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, she told councillors: "I am severely disappointed to see their training facilities are still in poor condition, contributing to some injuries our athletes are suffering."Our club is producing some national standard junior athletes, and spends in excess of £50,000 per year for hiring the training facility which is currently unfit for purpose, but there is no alternative." 'Remains open' Finance and assets cabinet member Peter Jeffries said he recognised both Leisure at Cheltenham and the Prince of Wales were ageing to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the authority has recently commissioned an assessment of the sites and a financial added the track was last refurbished in 2012, at which time the track surface was re-topped with a 4mm layer of 'crumb', designed to extend the life of the Izaac Tailford said: "Whilst we acknowledge that the track does not currently meet the UK Athletics competition standard, it remains open and accessible to users, meets all relevant health and safety requirements, and continues to provide an affordable entry to athletes."
Belfast Telegraph
an hour ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement
Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute 'endless unauthorised copies' of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. 'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing,' the companies state in the complaint. The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as 'kind of like a search engine' pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. 'Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?' Mr Holz said. 'Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. 'To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine.' Major AI developers do not typically disclose their data sources, but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the 'fair use' doctrine of American copyright law. The case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms — such as OpenAI, Anthropic — in San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is under way in London, pitting Getty Images against artificial intelligence company Stability AI.
