The only female jockey in the Melbourne Cup jockey is absolutely red-hot
Jamie Kah, who has been riding winners for fun and enters the Melbourne Cup on board a genuine contender, is Australia’s next big star.
Five years after Michelle Payne’s historic win on Prince of Penzance there’s every reason to believe another female jockey can salute in the Melbourne Cup.
Jamie Kah is well-known in horse racing circles after riding 100 winners in a year on five separate occasions but she could be headed for a whole new level of fame if she can guide another prince – Prince of Arran – home at Flemington on Tuesday.
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And her mount’s name isn’t the only similarity she’ll share with Payne after Prince of Arran drew the same barrier – one – as Prince of Penzance started from in 2015.
“We were sitting here together and we all looked at each other and shook our heads – it was really eerie,” Michelle Payne told Racenet after the barrier draw.
Kah and Payne are good mates and have travelled overseas on holiday together. The woman whose story was told in the film Ride Like A Girl has given her tick of approval to Kah’s approach.
“I think she is the epitome of riding like a girl,” Payne told the ABC. “Really, she rides beautiful and soft and she gets the best out of her horse by the kind approach.”
The daughter of former speed skaters John and Karen Kah, who represented Australia at the Winter Olympics, Jamie hails from South Australia where she grew up around horses before starting her career as a jockey.
She became the first apprentice to win the SA jockey premiership in 20 years and after winning that award three more times headed to Melbourne where more success followed.
But right now she’s in the form of her life after riding four separate winners on Cox Plate Day and backing it up with another victory at Flemington on Saturday.
Six-time Melbourne Cup winning owner Lloyd Williams put it simply on Monday morning when assessing the chances of Prince of Arran in Tuesday’s race: “You couldn’t find anyone riding any better in the world.”
Prince of Arran, which finished third in the Melbourne Cup in 2018 before going one better to finish second last year, is one of the shortest-priced favourites in this year’s race after an impressive run in the Caulfield Cup.
Everything appears to be combining for a breakout day for Kah – and she’s winning at life off the track too.
Alongside partner Clayton Douglas, who is also a jockey, Kah has re-homed about 15 former race horses in the past few years to do her part in an issue that has been a blight on the industry in recent times.
“I just love the horses. That’s how I got into it (becoming a jockey),” Kah told racing.com.
“That’s really special to me, to give these amazing animals a home after (their racing career) ends.”
Living by the creed “work hard in silence and let your success be your noise”, the 24-year-old looks ready to turn up the volume on the biggest day in Australian racing.
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