Why Kah says she’s not guilty as charged by race stewards over leaked white powder pics

Star jockey Jamie Kah has fronted the Victorian Racing Tribunal over her appearance in a leaked white powder video. Here are 13 key twists that have emerged so far.

No stranger to controversy, star jockey Jamie Kah on Monday of this week fronted the Victorian Racing Tribunal to give evidence at an explosive hearing over her appearance in a leaked “white powder” video that stewards claim could negatively affect the image of the horseracing industry. Stewards allege stablehand Ruby McIntyre recorded Kah using an identification card to cut up white powder on a plate into three lines.

Both Kah and Ms McIntyre have pleaded not guilty to the charge of what is essentially one of bringing the racing industry into disrepute.

Here are 13 key twists that have emerged from the scandal so far.

1. Kah claims she was clueless she was filmed

The charge of “conduct prejudicial to the image, interests, integrity or welfare of racing” stem from leaked images and a short video of Kah and her friends, including greyhound trainer Jacob Biddell and stablehand Ruby McIntyre, sitting around a table with a plate of white powder arranged in lines at Kah’s home on June 17.

Still shots from the video were later circulated and widely reported in the media. Mr Biddell has received a conditional suspended one-month ban for his part in the scandal.

Kah claims she didn’t know she was being filmed. “People say I should’ve known, but I didn’t know she was taking that video,” Kah told the hearing. “I got the screenshot of the video the night before it went public to the press.”

Jamie Kah at Flemington. Picture: Getty

Kah and stablehand Ruby McIntyre leave the white powder hearing in Melbourne. Picture: Tony Gough

2. Kah texted stablehand before scandal broke

The hearing heard Kah text messaged the stablehand shortly before the explosive images were published in the media saying: “What the f**k are those photos doing going around. Who has them?”

When asked why she texted McIntyre, Kah said: “I wanted to know who she sent the videos or photo to. I still to this day don’t know how they got to the media.”

3. Horror fall made alcohol effects greater

Kah told the tribunal she was more affected by alcohol at the time than she would normally be because of her horror race fall three months earlier. That fall ended with her being hospitalised for nearly a month and placed in an induced coma for six days. The concussion she suffered exacerbated the effects of the wines she had with her friends that night, Kah has claimed. Kah said she had been told by doctors drinking alcohol was “probably not a great idea”. The night of June 17 was the first time she had drunk too much since her accident, she said.

4. Kah and stablehand had only just met

Kah said she had only met Ms McIntyre six hours earlier, and was “absolutely” ambitious in trusting her.

5. Kah’s white powder gathering not in dispute

Kah’s barrister Matthew Stirling has not disputed Kah hosted the gathering or that Ms McIntyre and Mr Biddell were there. He has also not contested that Ms McIntyre recorded the video of the white powder being cut up with a card and that still shots from the video were widely reported. Mr Stirling is also representing Ms McIntyre.

6. Stablehand stayed the night

An image shared on the night of the scene was captioned with: “Something to add to the list of things I never thought I’d be doing, doing coke with Jamie Kah and another friend at her house until 3am and staying the night.”

A still picture from the video. Picture: Supplied

Another image from the “white powder” night. Picture: Supplied

7. McIntyre claims coke caption not hers

But while Ms McIntyre admitted she took the video, when asked about a screenshot on her phone that included the caption about doing coke with Kah, she said she didn’t write it.

8. Explosive text messages fired off

Potentially damaging text messages emerged at the hearing, that stewards allege indicate Kah lied about what she knew when she was interviewed in the days after the still shots were published. In one text message, Kah’s manager Emma Shelley texted Ms McIntyre saying “delete every single photo and that Instagram. Deny, deny, deny”.

A text message from Ms Kah to Mr Biddell said: “Told her [Ms McIntyre] not to post anything. Such a f---ing bitch.”

Message transcripts heard by the tribunal, between Kah’s manager, Ms Shelley, and Ms McIntyre, included “Everyone is sick, this is career destroying.” The messages were sent on June 21/22 — a couple of days before the scandal erupted in the media.

Ruby McIntyre has also been charged by Racing Victoria. Picture: Supplied

9. Kah wanted to stop publication of pics

The tribunal heard Kah was considering a Supreme Court injunction to stop the publication of the images, a move which predated any subsequent stewards’ inquiry.

10. ‘Blameworthy’ at heart of case

Counsel acting for the stewards, Russell Hammill, said there were three factors the tribunal had to consider when deciding to uphold a charge of conduct prejudicial to the image of racing — whether the conduct was public knowledge, whether the images damaged the sport and whether the conduct was regarded as blameworthy.

11. Kah concedes “it’s just not a good look”

Mr Hammill told the inquiry: “It doesn’t matter what the powder was, and Ms Kah concedes that, it’s just not a good look.” He said it was “about the look of what these images represent”, and alleged Kah either knew that photos and video were being taken or she was reckless, “either way it gets the stewards home on blameworthiness”.

“She ought to have known better. It’s not as though a phone was held up through a kitchen window,” Mr Hammill said.

12. Kah would have deleted video

Kah has said if she knew Ms McIntyre was recording, she would have kicked her out and made sure the video was deleted from the phone.

13. Filming wasn’t “very obvious”

Ms McIntyre has said she “quickly recorded” the video and “sent it to just one other friend”.

When asked how she recorded the video she said: “I was just across the table standing up just on my phone close to my body, it wasn’t something very obvious, not in anyone’s faces.”

Kah’s matter will return to the tribunal on Monday November 27 at 9am. If found guilty she could be fined, suspended or banned from racing.