SA jockey Jamie Kah will be cheering for Jaameh all the way from Adelaide
JAAMEH will be trying to make South Australian jockey Jamie Kah’s childhood dream of a ride in the Melbourne Cup a reality in Saturday’s $300,000 Lexus Stakes at Flemington.
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JAAMEH will be trying to make South Australian jockey Jamie Kah’s childhood dream of a ride in the Melbourne Cup a reality in Saturday’s $300,000 Lexus Stakes at Flemington.
Kah will be watching the Lindsay Park-trained stayer from Morphettville where she has a busy book of seven rides.
Victorian jockey Mark Zahra has the Jaameh ride in the Lexus Stakes which offers the winner ballot exemption from Tuesday’s $7.3m Lexus Melbourne Cup.
Kah is booked to ride Jaameh in the Cup if he wins the Stakes to qualify.
Co-trainer Ben Hayes said the Lexus was there last hope of Jaameh forcing his way into the Cup and joining stablemate Ventura Storm in the great race.
“We would have run him in a Geelong Cup but he was so low in the ratings, he could have won that and we still wouldn’t have got in,” Hayes said.
“The Lexus is automatic entry and he would get in with a light weight. But we’ve got to win the Lexus first.
“I think he can,” he said.
Jaameh has won two of his past four starts and was narrowly beaten in the Group 3 Bart Cummings by Avilius who is considered one of the leading Cup hopes marked an $11 chance with Ladbrokes.
“I think he’ll stay better than Avilius,’’ David Hayes said.
“He’s just going to have some luck on the weekend,’’ he said.
English trainer Charlie Fellowes faces a similar situation with A Prince Of Arran who is currently 28th in the latest ballot order for the Cup.
“I know Aussie horses have a really good record running in the Lexus into the Melbourne Cup, but he’s never done it before and I would be much happier if we were going straight into the Melbourne Cup,” Fellowes said.
“It’s OK when you’re running in two low-grade races or you’ve got a horse that’s really starting to progress and you think is well handicapped.
“But when you’re running in two races like this, that’s hard. It’s hard on any horse.
“That’s not to say he won’t handle it. But I would rather not be running,” he said.
Kah has two rides in Adelaide for the Lindsay Park team, last-start Adelaide winner Fighting Dragon, and Gheedaa who is raced in the same interests as her potenial melbourne Cup ride owned by Shadwell Stud Australia.
Kah has ridden seven winners with 16 placings for the Lindsay park team in the past 12 months.
Originally published as SA jockey Jamie Kah will be cheering for Jaameh all the way from Adelaide