Jamie Kah on brink of winning prestigious Melbourne Jockeys Premiership
Jockey Jamie Kah is breaking down horse racing’s final barrier and is on the brink of being crowned the best in the business.
Lifestyle
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Jockey Jamie Kah is riding high.
The 25-year-old hoop is currently on track to unseat racing’s household names Damien Oliver and Craig Williams to take out the coveted Melbourne Jockey’s Premiership later this year.
Kah is sitting 21 wins ahead of her closest competitors, including fellow rising star Damian Lane, and has four Group 1 wins to her name.
If she can pull off the incredible feat it will make her the first female ever to win the prized title, eclipsing Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne.
She’s already the first woman to ride a Lighting Stakes winner, taking out the Group 1 race at Flemington last week on sprinter Nature Strip.
Kah has also secured a spot in the All Star Mile after her mount Mr Quickie was voted into the race by the public. She will be the first female rider to compete in the $5 million race at Moonee Valley in March.
“From the start of the (spring racing) carnival, I don’t think there has been a week where I haven’t ridden a winner, which is pretty amazing,” she says.
“I’ve got to pinch myself every now and then, it’s going to be a long season that’s for sure, but it’s been absolutely amazing. I’ve had some terrific support over the spring. Usually you have a good run that ends and you have a few weeks where you can’t get a winner. I’ve been pretty lucky, it’s just continued.”
Unlike some elite sportspeople, a humble Kah attributes much of the success to the calibre of the horse and trainers rather than her own unique skills and hard work.
“When you’re riding winners you get put on the better horses and you sort of get on a roll. I’ve been blessed to be riding some really nice animals and I think through the carnival, I was on the right horses and the right races. They were just hitting their form,” she says.
“I’ve been riding for some really, really good trainers, big trainers, and getting a lot of support.”
Clayton Douglas, her partner and one of her greatest supporters, says Kah has an incredible rapport with, and love for, the horses that translates into a winning formula.
“I am really proud of her. I think she’s done a terrific job, she’s worked really hard to get where she is. The results are telling as to how good she is going,” he says.
“It’s just her poise and balance, she lets horses be where they’re comfortable and lets them travel. She’s got lovely soft hands, even riding track work. You watch her ride track work, they don’t seem to pull on her, they go nicely.
“She’s got a lot of confidence which really helps, she’d be able to ride most horses that you put her on. She’s just a really good horse person”
Kah says it’s always been about the love of horses and riding, rather than the actual adulation of racing, that drives her.
“I’m probably more of a quieter rider. I don’t use the whip a lot, I don’t think I’ve ever been suspended or fined for overuse of the whip. I’m just more hands and heels, trying to get the best out of the horse that way,” she says.
“I probably do it more because I love the actual horses, not really racing. I don’t have the racing background or history with racing. You get jockeys that know everything about races in Australia and every horse, every big race, but that’s not really my thing.
“I never really wanted to be a jockey, I just wanted to work with horses, but I fell in love with the racehorses as soon as I started riding them.”
She admits that the adrenaline rush of racing is addictive and it’s what keeps her coming back.
“I think there’s nothing really quite like riding a racehorse, it’s a lot of adrenaline. It’s an amazing feeling, it’s something you just sort of get hooked on, you fall in love with, there’s nothing like it,” she says.
A decision to drop out of school in Adelaide at the age of 15 to become an apprentice jockey is now paying off for Kah.
She says while the senior jockeys were welcoming and supportive of her when she first joined the ranks, things have recently become less collegiate.
“It’s quite funny, at the start they were all amazing, really supportive. Obviously now because of the Premiership, they’re getting a little bit more competitive and not as friendly. But there’s still a few, like Craig Williams, who is just an absolute gentleman and will go out of his way for anybody.
“Most of them are really amazing and I think Victoria probably has got the best bunch of riders at the minute, meaning they’re just all really close friends and they are all out there just to see you succeed.”
She has grown accustomed to comparisons with fellow female jockey Michelle Payne, but she’s determined to make her own mark and capitalise on her consistent run of wins.
“I’ve always been one to not really base myself on other people. I get asked that a lot, ‘What jockey do you look up to?’ I look up to a lot of them, but I sort of want to be known for doing my own thing,” she says.
“Obviously riding group one winners, Melbourne Cup winners, it’s amazing what Michelle did. But I think if I could happen to win the Premiership this year, that would just be the top of the goals and things I want to do in my career. You’ve got to prolong that whole year of success, you’ve got to ride a lot more winners.”
But Kah’s competitive spirit has her setting her sights on even bigger goals.
“I’ve been told that no one’s actually ridden 100 metro winners in a year. That’s a lot of metro winners, but if I could, I think it’s another goal to set myself as well.”
She knows only too well that the winning streak could be cut short at any moment and of the dangers inherent in the sport.
Kah was riding behind one of her best friends, Caitlin Forrest, in a four-horse fall in South Australia in 2014, in which Forrest was killed.
“I don’t think you can let it play on your mind if you’re going to be out there and riding among everybody. I’ve said it to Clayton a few times, the second that you’re scared out there is the second that you’ve got to stop,” she says.
“Obviously is a very dangerous sport and anything could happen but I think the second that you start thinking about that, it’s time to give it up.”
Douglas, a jockey himself, says he has full confidence in Kah.
“It is a risky sport but she’s a talented rider. You can’t look at it that way, worrying as such. You could be walking down the road and get run over, so you can’t look at it that way.”
Kah and Douglas live together on a beautiful property on the Mornington Peninsula where they have also set up a training business, led by Douglas.
“I’m a farm girl, I couldn’t live in the city. But Mornington is quite like Adelaide. I think it’s a lot more laid back and relaxed and there’s lots of wineries, so that was a big tick,” she says.
The pair got engaged during lockdown last year and plan to marry next year.
“It was actually very unromantic. It was through COVID and he was going to take me to Mitchelton Wines and that weekend he had to cancel it because Covid hit. I was sitting on the couch and he just sat next to me and said, ‘I had all this romantic stuff planned but it was too hard, so here you go’,” she says.
“I said ‘Are you serious?’, I thought he was joking. But of course I said ‘yes’.”
Both admire the same qualities in each other, along with a passion for horses and a shared vision for their future together.
“He’s a very kind person, I haven’t had many of those in the past. Instantly he was just such a loving, kind person, he’s a real horse lover too. I think that’s what drew me towards him, we just wanted the same things,” she says.
“She is a really kind-hearted, good person. She’s always there when you need her and just a lovely person to be around. There’s no fakeness to her, she’s a down to earth sort of person and she’s got a good sense of humour as well, which is terrific,” Douglas adds.
Working together on the farm and with a background in the same industry also helps to bind the couple.
“It is a good balance, we’ve got the same interests which I think helps in this industry because we’ve got to get up early and some days we have hard days and you understand that things can get hard, so it’s good to go through it with someone who understands,” Douglas says.
In their downtime, the couple loves to get out and ride for enjoyment and relaxation.
“We’ve got some really pretty beaches and trails around the area and there’s a few cross country courses that we take some of our horses to. Just relaxing riding, it’s a different sort of riding compared to racing, and that’s probably my only other little hobby. I don’t do much other than ride horses,” Kah says.
She is looking forward to getting on board General Beau at Caulfield on Saturday for the Blue Diamond Stakes. Kah says riding with crowds back trackside is a bonus after several months of silence during lockdown.
“It was quite a strange thing at first. I think Caulfield was the first day I rode without crowds and you could just hear every whip, every footstep, everything the jockeys were saying and that was quite a strange thing because normally you can’t hear yourself think the crowd’s so loud,” she says.
“I think we all kind of liked it for a while because it was peaceful, no owners or anyone there criticising you, but I think the spring carnival was tough because there are a few really big days there for me and I think with the crowd it just would have been unbelievable.”
Kah plans on riding in plenty more big days ahead as she makes the most of her dream run.
“I think I’ve really got to capitalise on the success I’m having at the minute, I think this is the time to do it pretty much,” she says.
Instead of fighting for plum rides, Kah is now in the enviable position of picking and choosing.
“I think my manager’s a lot happier now. It’s just a bit easier, but then saying that he’s got a few options and he’s got to pick the right one. So, I’ll leave that up to him. I’m not really one to interfere, he’s doing a great job, so it’s a good place to be in for sure,” she says.
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