JASON HART heads to Doncaster on Saturday assured of being crowned Britain’s champion apprentice.

The Ryedale rider will be following on from Hambleton-based Amy Ryan, who became the first female to win the title outright 12 months ago, and will join a star-studded list of former Ryedale apprentices, including Paul Hanagan, Robert Winston and Freddie Tylicki, to have secured the7 championship.

“I’ve had a great year,” said Hart, who is attached to the Sledmere stable of Declan Carroll and who has a seven winner lead over Thomas Brown going into the final day of the turf campaign.

“The only thing that could make it even better for me was if I rode three winners this week because that would take me up to 50 for the season.”

Although he made a relatively slow start to the campaign, not getting off the mark until the first Ripon meeting on April 18, Hart has been a consistent scorer since.

His talents have earned him mounts from more than 50 trainers and apart from Carroll, who has provided him with a constant source of mounts, Hart has established notable associations with Sheriff Hutton-based Tim Walford, for whom he has ridden an extraordinary seven winners from just 11 rides, and Eric Alston, who trains near Preston and who has supplied Hart with 97 mounts and 15 winners.

“I think it’s important for any apprentice to build up contacts and this season has been good for that. Mr Walford and Mr Alston have been particularly good to me, but I would like to thank everyone who has supported me,” said Hart, who enjoyed a particularly good afternoon at Nottingham last week.

Not only did he win on Carroll’s Invincible Hero at 12-1, but he followed up with a 10-1 success on the Alston-trained sprinter Foxy Music.

Having spent a beneficial month last winter on a work riding stint at Santa Anita in California, Hart has no plans at present to repeat that US exercise. He will be conspicuous by his absence from racecourses after the weekend.

“I am not going to ride on the all-weather this winter because I don’t want to use up what I’ve got left of my claim during the winter. I’ve got just over 20 winners still to ride to lose my claim and it would be good to start next season with that sort of number to help give me some momentum,” he explained.

Hart, could, of course, bid for the apprentice championship again in 2014. Although he joked that “it would take some doing to win it again”, stranger things have happened and he would surely be among the favourites for repeat honours.

He will be a proud young man when he collects the trophy.

 

• GARY MAHON is another Doncaster-bound Ryedale apprentice with a top prize already in the bag.

Mahon, who rides for Tim Easterby’s Great Habton stable, has won the inaugural Go Racing In Yorkshire Future Stars series, which covers nine races and embraces all eight of the Yorkshire courses.

Points are awarded for a top six finish and Mahon, who was the only rider to post two winners, has come out on top with his two nearest rivals, Jake Butterfield and Jordan Nason unable to trouble him going into Saturday's final race.

Mahon’s prize is worth £1,500, plus £500 in riding equipment from his chosen supplier.

 

• COCKNEY SPARROW booked her place in the line up for the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle with a Listed race victory at Wetherby last Saturday.

Trainer John Quinn won last year’s Fighting Fifth with Countrywide Flame, who is sadly sidelined for this season with a stress fracture.

But in Cockney Sparrow he has a fast improving mare who looks more than capable of providing him with back-to-back successes in the prestigious Grade 1 contest.

“Even to be placed in a Grade 1 would be great for a mare like her,” said Quinn. “She’s thrived in the last year and has got stronger and more mature. Whatever happens at Newcastle, there are plenty of nice mares’ races for her later in the season.”

 

• MALCOLM JEFFERSON is not a trainer to over-hype his inmates and much prefers to let their performances on the track speak for themselves.

“I like the horses to do the talking,” says the Norton trainer. Well, listen up – the Jefferson string having been shouting from the rooftops lately.

Not only did King Of The Wolds give an outstanding exhibition of jumping to win on his chasing debut at Sedgefield last Thursday, Jefferson’s two hugely talented new recruits, Oscar Rock and Urban Hymn followed up at Wetherby and Huntingdon, both winning impressively by an aggregate of 26 lengths.

Oscar Rock, who accounted for 19 of those lengths, could hardly have been more impressive on his hurdling debut under Brian Hughes.

“He reminds me a lot of Dato Star,” said Jefferson of his former stable star. “The way he moves, the way he carries himself, he has a lot of ‘Dato’ about him.”

Winner of two Newbury bumpers last season, which included a Listed triumph, Oscar Rock was transferred to Jefferson from Harry Fry in late summer by owners Graham and Jan Calder, who wanted their horses trained in the north.

Although they live near Manchester, the couple, who have Flat horses in training with Richard Fahey, have a second home just outside Malton and spend a lot of time in the area.

Urban Hymn, wide margin winner of a point-to-point for Richard Barber earlier this year, was another Calder horse to switch from the West Country to Ryedale.

He made his debut for Jefferson in a Sunday bumper at Huntingdon and hardly broke sweat in winning by seven lengths after never being headed.

“He’s a lovely big horse and a great mover. He’ll go hurdling now,” said Jefferson, who was understandably thrilled to see Urban Hymn score with such authority.

As for King Of The Wolds, a horse the Calders have bought since joining Jefferson, his jumping at Sedgefield in his first chase was a joy to behold.

“He’s a fantastic jumper; he would jump around anywhere,” said Jefferson. “He’s a horse we’ve always loved and although he did well over hurdles last season, we've minded him. We’ve always thought of him as a chaser.”

The forthcoming weeks and months are set to produce huge expectations within the Jefferson stable.

 

• HIS odds of 25-1 might not have flattered his chances of victory, but Ultimate was not deterred at Wetherby last Friday when he produced a tremendous display under Danny Cook to win the featured bet365 Handicap Chase for Norton’s Brian Ellison.

Hardly headed throughout the two and a half miles Listed contest, Ultimate attacked his fences and galloped home resolutely to win by a length and a half from Humbie, with Mac Aeda finishing third.

“He’s benefited from having a good break, which he didn’t have last season and he jumps fences particularly well,” said Ellison.

 

• PENITENT may be seven-years-old and not quite the force he once was, but the Ryedale gelding, trained at Nawton by David O’Meara, is still better than most horses of his age and he proved it at Newmarket’s final meeting of the season.

Last Saturday’s success, gained in gritty style by a neck and a head in a three-way photo, was achieved in the Ben Marshall Stakes, which provided Penitent with his second Listed win of the campaign.