Jubilation for Jamie: Star jockey Kah salutes a staggering milestone

Victoria’s premier jockey Jamie Kah told her family not to come to Caulfield on Saturday so as to not jinx her in her search for a record 100th city win.

But the superstar rider took just two races at the Heath to break the record set by Brett Prebble more than 20 years ago, before finishing the day on 101 wins.

Jamie Kah’s record-breaking ride on Deep Speed.Credit: Getty Images

Partnering with fellow South Australians Tony and Calvin McEvoy, Kah took Deep Speed straight to the lead over the sprint trip and held off the challengers to the cheers of a swollen Caulfield crowd.

A modest Kah gave an understated wave to the crowd with her whip in hand as she was applauded back to the winners’ stall and she said she was relieved to have finally hit the ton, having gone through last Wednesday at Sandown stuck on 99.

Jamie Kah celebrates her milestone achievement.Credit: Getty Images

“It’s been a very, very long week. I’ve had some really good people around me getting me through it. It’s a big relief today and to do it for Tony and Calvin,” Kah said, after her ride in race one finished fourth.

“I’m not the one for crowds and people cheering my name, it’s very foreign to me still.

“Wednesday was unbelievable to see that many people at Sandown. Today ... everyone and all the kids with signs, it’s very special.”

The race came down to the last 50 metres, with Kah willing her horse to hold on to the lead, and it did. Race caller Matt Hill described the achievement as “a century of winners from the Kah of the year”.

“I was hearing the crowd and getting goosebumps over the line,” Kah said, adding she told her family not to come to Caulfield so as to not jinx her.

Melbourne Racing Club played a montage of her best wins this season on the big screen following the race.

Later in the day, she stretched her record to 101 on board the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Red Santa.

The achievement is Melbourne racing’s version of 100 goals in an AFL season, only it’s never been done before until now.

Prebble’s record of 99.5 wins in 1999/2000 – really 100 victories, however a dead-heat in that season counted as just half a win for the record books – stood for more than 20 years, before Kah this season took the Melbourne ranks by storm. Prebble, a Melbourne Cup-winning jockey, paid tribute to the 25-year-old after himself ridding a winner at Caulfield on Saturday.

“I’m glad it has happened for her. There was a lot of pressure on her and she’s only young,” he said.

“She’s got a lot on her shoulders. Now she can go back out and just doing what she does well – riding winners.”

Kah’s season includes wins in the group 1 Lightning Stakes on Nature Strip, which she listed as arguably her biggest win this season, and the group 1 Toorak Handicap on Mr Quickie. With six meetings still to go this season, Kah has up to 51 more races to extend her record.

Group 1 wins interstate aboard Cascadian and Vega One were additional to the 100-plus city wins in Melbourne this season.

Kah was, however, unable to win the feature race on Saturday, with Red Can Man (Ben Melham) running over the top of her mount, Malkovich, in the Sir John Monash Stakes.

Apprentice Alana Kelly, 21, rounded out a great day for the female jockeys, also riding a double at Caulfield.

Kah at the forefront of a growing global trend

Jamie Kah’s history-making efforts in Victoria this season give her claims to being the world’s leading female rider – if that even matters to anyone much any more.

Kah, like women who are rising up the riding ranks all over the world, prefers to be known as a jockey. Her gender is of secondary concern.

But there is no denying that over the decades women have generally struggled to get the opportunities in bigger races and on better horses that men traditionally do.

“Get stuffed”: 2015 Melbourne Cup winner Michelle Payne.Credit: AP

After all, it was only just over five years ago that Michelle Payne declaimed, in her passionate post-race speech following her historic win in the 2015 Melbourne Cup, that those who doubted the ability of women to match men on horseback could “get stuffed.”

“It’s such a chauvinistic sport, a lot of the owners wanted to kick me off,” Payne said after saluting on 100-1 outsider Prince of Penzance.

“Everyone else can get stuffed, [those who] think women aren’t good enough.”

Back then Kah was not yet 20 but she was already staking her claim to be one of Australia’s finest riders, having established herself as the South Australian premier jockey in her first full season in the saddle in 2012/13.

Since then it has been mainly one-way traffic, although she did take an extended break from race-riding in 2015 to counter burnout and travel the world.

It did her little harm, as she was back among the winners as soon as she returned and landed her third SA premiership in 2017/18 before making the move to Melbourne.

Kah’s progress has been mirrored around Australia and the world.

In Sydney, Rachel King is now established as a top jockey, following the lead of Kathy O’Hara, while in South Australia Clare Lindop became the first female metro champion jockey in 2004/05.

Where she led, Kah followed – and others, like Jess Eaton and Kayla Crowther this season, are setting the pace in SA.

The trend is even more noticeable in neighbouring New Zealand, where women riders have been the movers and shakers for a long time.

This year Danielle Johnson, who has ridden more than 1000 career winners, is set to land the NZ jockey premiership, extending a remarkable record for female riders across the ditch.

Lisa Allpress won it in 2011/12, 2015/16, 2018/19 and 2019/20; Lisa Cropp for three consecutive seasons from 2004/05; and Sam Collett achieved the feat in 2017/18.

In the UK it has been harder for women to become established, but more are getting opportunities and seizing them with both hands.

Hayley Turner became the first to ride a group 1 winner when she scored on Dream Ahead in the July Cup in 2011.

But Hollie Doyle is the one making the most waves in England. The diminutive but power-packed Doyle has ridden more winners than any jockey of any sex so far this season and landed a big race in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, building on her group 1 maiden success at Ascot in 2020.

It is not just on the flat that women are making their mark.

Irishwoman Rachael Blackmore is a phenomenon over obstacles and is widely recognised as the greatest ever female jumps rider, having this year dominated the Cheltenham Festival (the Olympics of jumps racing) and become the first woman ever to win the Grand National Steeplechase, a fearsome test over 6.94 kilometres and 30 fences.