Jamie Kah intends to plead not guilty to riding charge as VRT hearing set

A hearing date has been set into Jamie Kah’s ride on Memsie Stakes day where she will answer a charge of failing to give her horse every chance to win.

Champion jockey Jamie Kah is set to plead not guilty at the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Thursday in relation to a charge over her ride in the Group 3 McNeil Stakes last month.

Racing Victoria stewards charged Kah with failing to “take all reasonable and permissible measures” on Let’sfacethemusic “to win or obtain the best possible place in the field”.

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Kah, barrister Matthew Stirling and stewards faced a VRT directions hearing on Thursday.

Stirling indicated Kah’s case would revolve around the windy and blustery conditions on race day and Let’sfacethemusic’s racing manners, “somewhat of an equine retch”, and propensity to “lock its jaw”.

“What that means is the jockey can steer one way and the horse will go the other way,” Stirling said.

“You can see that this exact thing happens in this race footage on the stewards’ footage at the 900m mark. The horse veers in when Ms Kah is going the other way.

“On this day the conditions were extremely windy. The two horses in front were shifting ground continually … Ms Kah’s horse was also shifting ground.”

Jamie Kah is set to face the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Thursday. Picture: Scott Barbour/Racing Photos via Getty Images

Stirling said Kah felt unwell on the day and low on confidence.

“Her instincts told her not to take the run, it wasn’t safe to take the run,” Stirling said.

“In retrospect, because we now know, but only in retrospect, there were a couple of stages where the horses in front remained true on their line and Ms Kah’s remained true on its line.

“It might have been an error, but that’s not what the rule is about … the rule requires serious culpability.

“If they (stewards) can establish an error of judgment, it’s not enough to make out the charge.”

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Stirling challenged the want of stewards for jockeys to ride safely but then require them to take an element of risk to take a neat run between horses.

“Our position is the stewards can’t have it both ways,” Stirling said.

Steward Corie Waller told the VRT the prosecution would largely rely on the video footage.

“It’s ultimately an adjudication on a riding related infringement,” Waller said.

Stewards determined Kah failed to ride her mount with sufficient vigour between the 175m and the 100m to improve her position between Band of Brothers and Stay Focused “where there was sufficient room and when it was reasonable and permissible to do so”.

Kah also failed to ride her mount with sufficient vigour the final 75m.

Stewards questioned Kah on race day and heard further evidence last week, prior to the Group 1 jockey being charged last Monday.

Originally published as Jamie Kah intends to plead not guilty to riding charge as VRT hearing set