By Ben Caluzzi
Jamie Kah has been around horses her entire life. Soon after she could walk, she could ride, and being legged up onto her family pony by the age of one was just the beginning of her affinity with thoroughbreds.
Despite this, her passion for race riding didn’t come from her immediate family. Yes, she inherited her competitive edge from her parents John and Karen who represented Australia as speed skaters in the Olympics, but her incredible ability in the saddle wasn’t directly derived from those rich bloodlines. In fact, Kah’s non-racing parents admit that had they had known more about the dangers of being a jockey, they might not have been so accepting when she first entered the caper.
Jamie Kah’s stairway to success has been unique. Growing up in Mount Pleasant in South Australia, she learnt the fundamentals of horse riding and competed in various Equestrian events throughout her childhood. By the age of 14 she began working in John MacMillan’s stables, and only a year later she had convinced her parents to let her leave school and become an apprentice.
Timing, balance, strength, focus, and diligence. There are many elements that make a good jockey. From very early on it became apparent to MacMillan that Jamie had some of these qualities already, but the two things that shone brightest was her quick-learning ability and her sense of feel.
Feel is an understated mastery when it comes to unpacking a jockey’s toolbox. It is not uncommon for the ordinary Joe to think race riding is primarily about strength and vigor. Whichever jockey rides the hardest, strongest race, uses his shillelagh best and of course, has a capable horse will win, right?
Wrong. There is a reason why Jamie Kah is getting the best out of her horses, better than anyone else currently in the state. Horses ‘run for her’ because she consistently finds the perfect rhythm and balance when she is riding them. She is at one with them. She understands pressure and release as well as anyone, she understands the optimal length of her reign at any given stage in a race, her horses conserve more energy, and in return they can sustain a longer, more powerful sprint in the finish.
Horses that are usually aggressive on the bridle race more kindly when she is aboard them, and horses that usually settle back in the field seem to be able to take up a more prominent position. To put it simply, as 38-time Group 1 winning trainer Mick Price says, “horses love her,” and she loves them.
Much like Roger Federer in tennis, Floyd Mayweather in boxing or Scott Pendlebury in the AFL, Kah can execute her skills under such immense pressure, yet still appear as if she is doing it so effortlessly.
To quote her mother Karen, “you see nothing, and yet she’s doing so much.”
The continual rise of Jamie Kah has taken Australia by storm these past few seasons. After all, what’s not to love about seeing a female athlete competing against men on a level playing field on the biggest stage and doing so well to the point of domination? It is just another element exclusive to racing that makes it so great.
But it wasn’t always that way. The evolution of female jockeys has spiraled in recent memory, but it wasn’t long ago that women weren’t accepted in racing circles at all. It was only 43 years ago that Pam O’Neill and Linda Jones became the first two female licensed riders in Australia, only 15 years since Clare Lindop became the first Australian female jockey to win a Group 1, and only 6 years ago that Michelle Payne became the first female rider to win the Melbourne Cup.
Amazingly enough, an 18-year-old Jamie Kah won the Adelaide Jockeys’ Premiership in her first full season of riding in 2012/13, yet when she arrived in Victoria, she still struggled to get rides. Riding under Mick Price in 2014, he found it hard to convince owners why a female apprentice should ride their horse.
As we now know, these struggles are a thing of the past. Kah has ridden a Group 1 winner this season for Chris Waller, Australia’s premier trainer, Godolphin, the largest racing stable in the world, and Tony Gollan, Queensland’s leading trainer.
The significance of Jamie Kah’s success, however, is that it stems much further than her feature race wins. In season 2020/21, not only will she become the first female rider ever to win the Victorian Metropolitan Premiership, but she has also made history by becoming the first ever jockey to ride 100 Victorian Metro winners in a season. The odds of any jockey achieving such a feat at the start of the year, let alone a female rider, would have been astronomical.
She has overtaken Michelle Payne on the record number of Group 1 wins by a female rider with six to her name, produced highlights such as riding an incredible four winners on Ladbrokes Cox Plate Day, and has done it all going at an astonishing win strike rate of 20%, riding a winner at every fifth start.
To predict such monumental achievements at the start of the season would have been absurd, yet here we are, on the brink of history. And although categorizing jockeys into female or male will soon cease to exist, it is worth first celebrating the pioneers of our sport who will force that to happen.
Whether she enjoys the spotlight that comes with it or not, Jamie Kah is the leading figure in that movement, and on July 31 when the 2020/21 racing season ends, she will officially be crowned with the Victorian Metropolitan Jockey’s Premiership.
From everyone at the Monee Valley Racing Club, congratulations Jamie, and thank you for inspiring the next generation.