Updated: Hawick jockey Jason Hart follows up £180,000 win with eight more first places, including two at Ayr
Hawick jockey Jason Hart racked up his second first-placed finish at Ayr in the space of two days on Monday to take his tally of wins for August to date to seven, earning prize money in excess of almost £220,000, and he’s since added another two at Hamilton Park.
The 30-year-old rode 9-4 favourite Highfield Viking to victory over seven furlongs for John and Sean Quinn’s Malton yard in North Yorkshire at Ayr on Monday, landing a payout of £3,664, following on from doing likewise over a mile on Saturday with Empirestateofmind at 7-2, also for the Quinns, earning £5,234.
Those two first places in South Ayrshire sandwiched another over five furlongs at Merseyside’s Haydock Park on Sunday on Spring is Sprung at 15-2 for York trainer Paul Midgley, picking up a top prize of £15,462.
They followed two at Ripon in North Yorkshire on Monday, August 4, over a mile on Precious Spartan for Patrick Neville’s Leyburn stables at 9-4 and over a mile and almost two furlongs on 5-4 favourite Spioradalta for another North Yorkshire yard, Mark Walford’s at Sheriff Hutton, earning £3,664 and £6,281 respectively.
Those payouts – and one of £3,768 for guiding Walford’s Bay Dream Believer to victory over a mile and two furlongs at 11-4 at Doncaster in South Yorkshire on Saturday the 2nd – were dwarfed by the one that opened Hart’s account for the month, however.
That was on Friday the 1st on the Quinns’ Jm Jungle at 14-1 in the King George Qatar Stakes at Goodwood in West Sussex, a class-one group-two race over five furlongs offering a top prize of £179,771 and a total kitty of £317,000.
That was the second time that Hart, now with career earnings of more than £12.2m to his name, had won that race for the Quinns, the prior occasion having been on the since-deceased Highfield Princess in 2023.
“I maybe went a bit mad after the line, but when you have a horse like Highfield Princess and then she goes, it’s hard to try to find the next one, but the Quinns have proved time and time again that no matter what type of horse they have, they’re well able to train them, and when they target a race, you’d better take note,” said Hart afterwards.
“I got some kick out of that because we may be lacking a little bit of class in the yard at the minute, so it was great for him to step up.
“Highfield Princess won this and there was a bit more pressure on that day because she was a warm favourite.
“It is just magical. John and Sean always target this Goodwood meeting and they rarely leave without the goods.”
Hawick trainer Ewan Whillans was among Saturday’s winners at Ayr too, with Royal Blaze over a mile and two furlongs, ridden by David Nolan, to pick up prize money of £4,187.
Ayr’s two meetings also saw one of Hart’s predecessors as British champion apprentice jockey, fellow Hawick rider Greg Fairley, continue his comeback after 14 years out, 12 of them due to a ban for involvement in race-fixing, taking third places for two Borders trainers – with On the Bubble at 7-2 over a mile for Camptown’s Gary Rutherford on Monday and on 50-1 outside Falaise Blanc for Selkirk’s Katie Scott two days earlier over a course two furlongs longer.
Another two firsts for Hart followed in North Lanarkshire on Tuesday, on Sir Garfield at 5-2 for the Quinns over six furlongs and on Twoforthegutter at 13-2 over a mile and four furlongs for Lancashire trainer Chris Kellett, securing payouts of £5,286 and £3,664 respectively.