Jason Hart sets Liberty Beach on Royal Ascot mission to slow Battaash

The two horses have been drawn alongside each other for the five-furlong King’s Stand Stakes, one of two Group One highlights this afternoon.

And Hart, for one, can’t wait for the John Quinn-trained Liberty Beach eyeballing the Charlie Hills-trained speedster before this ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ race.

He certainly sounds undaunted. “I am really looking forward to it,” the jockey told The Yorkshire Post.

“I am happy to be drawn right next to Battaash. Hopefully he will go forward and, hopefully, we can follow him and get a nice tow into the race.”

Hart, for one, knows that Liberty Beach will have her work cut out if Battaash, one of the best sprinters of recent years, brings his A-game to Ascot under former champion jockey Jim Crowley.

Yet Battaash was beaten by Godolphin’s now-retired Blue Point in each of the last two renewals of the King’s Stand while Hart and Quinn are quietly confident of springing a surprise.

Their horses are in form – as evidenced by the durable sprinter El Astronaute making all in a Listed contest at Doncaster on Sunday. “Every yard would like one of him,” enthused Hart, 25, after the horse’s 13th career win.

They were pleased with Liberty Beach’s winning comeback at Haydock, again in a Listed race, in the colours of Philip Wilkins while many of her rivals, like Battaash and Kevin Ryan’s Glass Slippers, have been kept back for today.

And then there’s the burgeoning partnership between Hart and Quinn – the jockey was a daily presence at the trainer’s Settrington stables near Malton during the lockdown after choosing to only go into one yard to minimise the risks.

“These are the days every jockey wants,” said the 2013 champion apprentice who is seeking his first Royal Ascot win.

“I’m only going down there (Ascot) today – that will probably be my only ride at the meeting – but these are the days everyone wants to be at. To have a ride of her quality (Liberty Beach) is something to get buzzed up about.”

Fourth in last year’s Queen Mary Stakes to Mark Johnston’s Raffle Prize when the field split in two, Liberty Beach won at Sandown and Goodwood before finishing second in York’s Lowther Stakes at the Ebor Festival.

“She’s an absolute diamond of a filly. She’s laid back. She eats, sleeps and trains,” said Hart, when asked to explain the three-year-old’s special qualities.

“Without a shadow of doubt, Battaash will be very hard to beat but, hopefully we are one of the horses who have a chance. From the race at Haydock, I’m confident Liberty Beach has trained on and retained all her speed.”

This, says Hart, is down to the uncanny ability of Quinn, his son Sean and the whole team to get the best out of their horses.

“He’s a very good trainer of any type of horse,” explained the jockey who originally hails from Hawick. “I can’t really think of a horse that he’s not won with, whether a sprinter, middle distance horse, seller, Group horse or a handicapper. And then there’s his record over jumps.

“He’s an all round good trainer and its great that we have a good relationship. There are some owners who have arrangements with their own jockeys, so I don’t ride for them, but that’s part and parcel of job.”

That acceptance and understanding is a consequence of the lockdown when Hart, like so many other jockeys, appreciated how much racing meant to him.

Yet he is fulsome in his praise for the biosecurity measures that racing has put in place to ensure Covid-19 is contained. “It’s basically idiot-proof,” he says.

And he hopes that it won’t be long before the rules are relaxed so owners can watch their horses run. That, he stresses, is a priority.

“Without owners, we have no racing,” he adds. “Trainers are doing video debriefs with jockeys and sending them on to connections so they feel part of the experience, but is strange riding without owners and will be nice when it gets back to normal.”

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