How one ‘miserable’ and two big mistakes got Jamie Kah into trouble

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Her first mistake that August day was not calling in sick. If she had heeded the warning signs of a tired body and a clogged mind, her first error in judgment would not have led to the second.

Because just like in any profession, when you clock in for your shift, you are expected to do your job.

But Kah showed up at the track on the last Saturday in August, pale and withdrawn. She reported for duty and declared herself ready to ride.

Her second mistake of the day was not opening a gap. Kah rode Let’sfacethemusic ($8.50) to fifth in a field of eight, 4.5 lengths ahead. Kah was known for her patience, soft hands and timing, but seemed to forget where she was. When a gap opened, she didn’t follow through. There was none of the icy intent of Saturday.

She was questioned by Racing Victoria stewards and charged with failing to give her horse any opportunity to win or place under rule AR129(2).

She will appear before the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Thursday to plead her case. If found guilty, she will be at the tribunal’s discretion and will be sidelined for weeks.

At the heart of her defence will be four key factors: a “miserable” horse that doesn’t like to be steered, a fierce crosswind, her own safety and the fact that she was ill. “She was ill and lacking in confidence,” Kah’s lawyer, barrister Matthew Stirling, told a hearing on the guidelines this week. “In all those circumstances, her instincts told her not to take the run; it wasn’t safe to take the run.”

But gamblers expect jockeys to seize every opportunity to win, and for that reason the case has divided the racing community.

“I don’t care how much the wind is, you’ve got to ride them out,” former jockey Sam Hyland told SEN.

Hyland’s assessment did not sit well with Kah’s fiancé and fellow jockey Ben Melham, who defended her. “Maybe she didn’t want to be back in intensive care for the spring carnival,” Melham posted on X.

Melham has a point to a certain extent. The sport feared losing Kah in March last year after she suffered a head injury in a fall at Flemington. She was sidelined for months and needed even more time to regain her balance and nerve on race day.

While Kah awaits her fate next week, the racing world at least has a rival talking point: the ongoing battles between Mr Brightside and Pride Of Jenni heading into this year’s Cox Plate.

They had another ding-dong battle at Flemington in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes, this time with Mr Brightside taking the points.