By Peter Moore at Newbury Saturday 7th February 2026
Dreams of a first Cheltenham Gold Cup winner trained in Wales since Norton’s Coin’s famous 100-1 upset in 1990 are very much alive after Haiti Couleurs put his name forward for the festival showpiece with a strong staying performance in the Grade 2 William Hill Denman Chase at Newbury on Saturday.
The Welsh and Irish Grand National winner had to pull out all the stops after L’Homme Presse threatened to lay down a serious challenge in the straight, before finding plenty to score a convincing seven-length success in testing conditions.
“I was delighted with that,” Curtis told ITV. “I was so nervous coming into this with all the Gold Cup chat and I’m glad it’s out of the way. I don’t think he was doing a lot in front and, while he’s gone through that ground, I don’t think he loves it as much as a slightly better surface. It’s job done and we can freshen him up now.
“It’s really exciting and all systems go for the Gold Cup. He’s almost done it the hard way, creeping up the handicap, and hopefully he’s earned his place now.”
Venetia Willaims tough season Arkle fahas been well documented but stable star L’Homme Presse again did his bit to keep spirits high with a gallant effort in second and could meet the winner again in the Gold Cup.
“He finally got racing turning for home and ran a good race,” said Williams. “We always come to the races hoping we might finish in front, but we haven’t today, although we have to be very happy.
“We’ll wait and see what we do next. When you have a horse with his kind of rating, there are very limited opportunities. He’s in the National, but that’s a long way away, so we’d like to run him somewhere in March. There are very few races you can consider.”
Arkle favourite Lulamba made it three from three over fences with a six and a half length success over Saint Segal in the Grade 1 Game Spirit Chase.
Despite being outpaced after the 9th, the five-year-old made smooth headway after four out to be shaken up under Nico de Boinville to pull clear and win in impressive fashion.
Sober Glory was another impressive winner on the day after running out an emphatic winner of the 2m½f novice hurdle.
Partnered by Harry Cobden, Sober Glory opened up a massive lead on his seven rivals in the early stages before allowing Kadastral to close to within a length early in the straight.
However, the leader was merely toying with his main market rival and, when asked to extend, opened up to win by 27 lengths.
“I think he’s probably as good as he looks,” said Cobden. “You can’t not be very impressed with how he goes through the race, and he stays so well. Going up in trip is something he’ll want in time, but he’s certainly not short of boot either. He could be a serious British contender for the Supreme.”
A Pai De Nom made it four wins from six starts this season with a smooth success in the 3m½f hurdle by five lengths.
Moving up in trip, the six-year-old travelled well under Harry Skelton to pull clear after the final flight. Tristan Durrell will ride him if he makes the cut for the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at the festival.
An all the way victory from Tutti Quanti could see him earn a supplementary entry into the Champion Hurdle after turning the William Hill Hurdle into a procession.
Tutti Quanti jumped out in front before going further and further clear under Harry Cobden. Fourteen-time champion trainer Paul Nicholls has been targeting this race since the start of the season.
However, even he was surprised by the manner in which Tutti Quanti strolled 15 lengths clear of runner-up Wellington Arch under 12st and the Champion Hurdle is now under consideration.
“He’s just one of those big, backward-types who is physically improving and getting better every time,” said Nicholls. “I still think there’s more to come and he loves that ground. I was a little bit nervous because the record books say 12st is hard to win a race like this, but he’s annihilated them. He’s now becoming the real horse and he’s got some engine.
“Colm [Donlon, owner] and I both said we could supplement him for the Champion Hurdle if we wanted to. The great thing about doing that is you don’t have to do it until five or six days before, and by then you’ll have a great idea about what the ground will be like. If we had a wet spell and it was like this, we’d think about it. You’d have to.
“If it was good, we wouldn’t, but he’d hold his own. It’s an open race this year, and if it’d be testing you’d want to have him in there.”
An inch perfect round of jumping enabled Holloway Queen to put his rivals to the sword with an impressive performance in the 2m 7f novice handicap chase, after completing a fifteen length victory over Knight Of Allen.
Trainer John Dawson has only a handful of horses at his Cleveland yard, but in A Likeable Rogue he looks to have a star in the making after the five-year-old went clear in the final furlong to win the closing bumper by nine lengths.