Haiti Couleurs collects brilliant Irish Grand National victory

Just like last year, Ted Walsh's Any Second Now finished as runner-up. 

Sean Bowen celebrates onboard Haiti Couleurs on their way to winning the Irish Grand National by three and three-quarters lengths from the gallant Any Second Now. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

The heart-on-his-sleeve Haiti Couleurs produced a performance of dogged determination to ensure the BoyleSports Irish Grand National would be sailing back across the Irish Sea to the Welsh valleys.

Trained by Pembrokeshire-based Rebecca Curtis and ridden by British champion jockey-elect Sean Bowen, the lightly-raced eight-year-old, having just his fifth outing over fences, came here on the back of a victory in the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, and it remained to be seen how much that had taken out of him.