How a ‘wretch’ and two big mistakes landed Jamie Kah in trouble
Jamie Kah was as ice-cold calm as the brisk winds that swept rain and hail across the grassy expanses of Flemington Racecourse on Saturday.
A fortnight had passed since the star jockey made two crucial mistakes at a Caulfield race meeting that have the potential to derail her spring, and yet the pressure did not show.
Jamie Kah pilots Point King to victory in the Lexus Archer Stakes.Credit: Getty Images
From the moment she strode into the mounting yard for the first race, alongside trainer Ciaron Maher, she was stern-faced and focused.
She rode with confidence. She rode through inclement conditions that would have sent a penguin scrambling for a huddle in Antarctica.
The results followed. She finished second on See You In Heaven after tellingly pushing through a gap, and won a feature race of the day, the group 3 2500-metre Archer Stakes on Point King.
Kah’s victory was significant. It guaranteed Point King, trained by Anthony and Sam Freedman, a start in the Melbourne Cup. It might even guarantee Kah a ride.
“I was exactly where I wanted to be,” she said post-race. “He’s got all the talent in the world this horse, but he’s a real thinker. Once he sorts his brain out he’ll be right in the race.”
Thinking counts for a lot in Kah’s sport. It can help avoid mistakes. It can help prevent the kind of double blunder that landed her in trouble two weeks ago.
Her first error that August day was not calling in sick. If she had heeded the warning signs of a fatigued body and stuffy head, her initial error of judgment would not have led to the second.
Because like any profession, when you punch the clock for your shift, you are expected to do your job.
But Kah turned up at the track on the last Saturday in August looking pale and withdrawn. She signed on for her shift and declared herself ready to ride.
Her second mistake that day was failing to take a gap. Kah rode Let’sfacethemusic ($8.50) to fifth in a field of eight, beaten by 4.5 lengths. Known for her patience, soft hands and timing, Kah seemed to forget where she was. When a gap opened, she didn’t push through. There was none of Saturday’s ice-cold intent.
Jockey Jamie Kah is facing a serious charge levelled by stewards.Credit: Getty Images
She was questioned and charged by Racing Victoria stewards with failing to give her mount every chance to win or run a place under Rule AR129(2).
On Thursday, she will face the Victorian Racing Tribunal to plead her case. If found guilty she is at the tribunal’s discretion and faces weeks on the sidelines.
At the heart of her defence will be four key factors: a “wretch” of a horse that doesn’t like to be steered, a fierce cross wind, personal safety and the fact that she was sick. “She was unwell and low on confidence,” Kah’s legal representative, barrister Matthew Stirling, told a directions hearing this week. “In all of those circumstances, her instincts told her not to take the run; it wasn’t safe to take the run.”
But punters expect jockeys to take every opportunity to win. For that reason, the case has split the racing community.
“I don’t care how windy it is, you’ve got to ride them out,” former jockey Sam Hyland told SEN.
Hyland’s assessment did not sit well with Kah’s fiance and fellow jockey Ben Melham, who leapt to her defence. “Maybe she didn’t fancy being parked up in ICU again for the spring carnival,” Melham posted on X.
To some degree, Melham has a point. The sport feared losing Kah in March last year after she suffered head injuries in a fall at Flemington. She spent months on the sidelines and took even longer to regain her race-day balance, and her nerve.
As Kah awaits her fate next week, at least the racing world has a rival talking point – the ongoing bouts between Mr Brightside and Pride Of Jenni heading towards this year’s Cox Plate.
They fought another ding-dong battle at Flemington in the group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes. On this occasion, Mr Brightside took the points.