Kah’s spring under a cloud after stewards lay ‘serious’ charge

Star jockey Jamie Kah has been charged by Racing Victoria stewards for failing to give a horse she was riding every chance to win a race in a case that could have ramifications for the upcoming spring carnival.

Kah is one of racing’s biggest attractions and faces a stint on the sidelines if found guilty of what stewards classify as a “serious offence”.

Jamie Kah will front the Victoria Racing Tribunal on a serious riding charge.Credit: Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images

The charges will be heard by the Victorian Racing Tribunal at a date to be fixed.

Kah’s alleged offence stems from her ride on three-year-old colt Let’sfacethemusic at Caulfield on Saturday, August 31.

She was hauled in by stewards and questioned over why she failed to take a gap between horses and improve her position in the last 200 metres of the 1200m Group 3 McNeil Stakes.

Let’sfacethemusic started the race fourth favourite ($8.50) in a field of eight and finished fifth, beaten by 4.56 lengths.

Stewards have charged Kah with “failing to take all reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure that Let’sfacethemusic was given full opportunity to win or obtain the best possible place in the field”.

They allege Kah failed to ride her mount with sufficient vigour or purpose to improve her position between horses Band Of Brothers and Stay Focused between the 175m mark and the 100m mark.

Stewards allege there was sufficient room between the horses in front of her, and it was reasonable to expect Kah to take the gap.

They allege that Kah also failed to ride her mount with sufficient vigour in the final 75m when it was reasonable and permissible to do so.

In her evidence, Kah said she did not ride with a “lot of confidence” at the Caulfield meeting.

She had eight rides, winning one race and finishing second in another, on a day affected by strong winds.

“I just didn’t feel like I rode that well,” Kah told stewards.

“I saw it [the gap] moving in front of me and I don’t know, I didn’t feel comfortable taking the run.

“I don’t take runs that aren’t there and at the point in the race, I didn’t feel like there was a run there for long enough to take.”

Manager/owner of Let’sfacethemusic Phil Edwards told stewards his horse had no luck whatsoever in the race, won by favourite Growing Empire.

“Small field and I think there was nowhere to go whatsoever, one of those variables in racing, doesn’t play out as you wish,” he said.

“Circumstances didn’t go our way and work our way in any way shape or form.”

The horse, trained by Mick Price and Mick Kent jnr, passed a vet test after the race.

Under the rules of racing, if a person is charged with a serious offence it has to be heard before the Victorian Racing Tribunal. It is possible the case could be pushed back until after the spring, allowing Kah to ride in the carnival’s biggest races.

Jamie Kah wins the 2024 Newmarket Handicap on Cylinder.Credit: Getty Images

There is no minimum or maximum penalty for a breach of rule AR 129(2) – the charge against Kah.

Kah, a 14-time group 1 winner, is considered the woman most likely to ride a Melbourne Cup winner after Michelle Payne.

She spent months on the sidelines last year after a fall at Flemington in March. She suffered bleeding on the brain and some feared she would never make it back to the sport.

In December last year, Kah was cleared by the racing tribunal of conduct prejudicial to racing after a six-second video was circulated showing Kah separating lines of white powder on a kitchen plate.

In handing down the decision, tribunal judge John Bowman said Kah’s behaviour was “immature, irresponsible and at least bordering on reckless”.

But he said the tribunal was not satisfied that her behaviour constituted a breach of the sport’s rules as Kah did not know the video had been taken or circulated.

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