Robert Tart makes dream return with winner at Chester

PA Sport Reporters
May 29, 2021 3:45 pm

Riding back in business after lengthy absence from saddle.

Robert Tart enjoyed a dream return to the saddle after a near four-year absence as he steered Uber Cool to victory at Chester.

The 28-year-old recorded Group-race success back in 2017, partnering Cunco to win the Sandown Classic Trial while Black Princess was a winning ride in the Lancashire Oaks the same year.

However, Tart stepped away from the sport at the end of that campaign due to mental health issues, working in a pre-training yard in the interim, before stepping back into the weighing room.

Teaming up with the Jane Chapple-Hyam-trained Uber Cool in the Mental Health UK Handicap, Tart delivered his mount with a perfectly-timed challenge down the middle of the track, with the 14-1 chance shooting past his rivals to win be a comfortable two and a quarter lengths.

Uber Cool himself had been off the track for 959 days and was having his first outing since finishing down the field in the Cesarewitch in October 2018.

Tart told Sky Sports Racing: “I always dreamed of riding as a young lad and I had a little bit of a speed wobble, (as) I like to call it, for the past couple of years. I found it quite difficult, but now I’m working for Jane, I have a licence and just rode a winner for her on my first ride back.

“I’ve been off the track for four years, the horse has been off the track for two and a half years, so it’s really exciting and I’m really looking forward to the future.

“It (absence) was simply for reasons that I had to get over myself. Now we’re OK, everything is good, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Of Uber Cool, he added: “We’ve got an amazing bond.

“The way he quickened up today was brilliant, I was not expecting that. He sat back in the stalls a bit, jumped slow, but he travelled great so I’m really pleased.”