Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint: Jason Hart and Highfield Princess have both climbed from base to peak
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jason Hart, who rides Thoroughbreds mainly in England and Ireland, matches nicely with his mount Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Highfield Princess after 14 races still was a Class 3 handicap runner, a level of racing miles below something like the Breeders’ Cup. Hart got his start in the Scottish equivalent of bush-track racing in Louisiana. His hometown, Hawick (pronounced “hike”), sits square in the center of the Scottish flapping circuit, unsanctioned races where unlicensed trainers race ponies. Hart got a leg up in one of these races when he was 16.
A dozen years later, he’s at Keeneland with a very live mount in the Turf Sprint. Highfield Princess has risen steadily up the class ladder to the point there is barely anywhere left to go. The 5-year-old mare who didn’t even contest a group stakes race until her 17th start comes to Keeneland after winning three of the most important Group 1 sprints in Europe: the Prix Maurice de Gheest over 6 1/2 furlongs at Deauville; the Nunthorpe Stakes over five furlongs at York; and the Flying Childers Stakes over five furlongs at the Curragh.
The margins of victory have gotten wider and wider: a half-length, 2 ½ lengths, 3 ¼ lengths. Highfield Princess has won on good ground, good to firm, soft – why can’t she handle Keeneland?
“She’s won around bends obviously not as tight as here, but that should have prepared her for this,” said Hart. “She’s won over all types of ground. I’m just hoping the [starting gate] bell doesn’t put her off and we can have a good run.”
Hart rode Highfield Princess for her first eight starts, and after getting aboard her sporadically through the middle portion of her career has been her regular pilot this season. Hart rides for a range of trainers, but the trainer of Highfield Princess, John Quinn, is his main man.
Hart spent a winter as a work rider at Santa Anita during his apprentice period, and has only one ride in America, Safe Voyage’s 14th-place finish for Quinn in the 2020 BC Mile here. Safe Voyage needed truly soft or heavy European turf to run his best race; Highfield Princess just needs to run like she has been.
“I was very impressed with Golden Pal’s last start,” Hart said, referring to the defending Turf Sprint champion and Saturday’s favorite, a horse with brilliant gate speed. “She does break good, but breaking good in England and breaking good in America are two very different things.”
Hart has personal familiarity with starkly different things – pony races in Scotland, the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.