JAMIE ADDS DASH OF LOVE TO RIDES
STONE cold numbers and a dash of love have played prominent roles in every step of star jockey Jamie Kah’s road to the top.
Kah’s processes made her the first woman to land Melbourne’s jockey premiership while setting a new riding record of 105 Melbourne winners in a season in the 2020/21 season. That process will undergo another stern test if connections of glamour gallopers Zaaki and I’m Thunderstruck both target the $5m All-Star Mile at The Valley next month.
Kah said she heavily relied on her Adelaide-based manager Lachlan Weekley to wade through the numerous riding offers she received every week.
She said ploughing through endless charts of ratings and racing replays was the side of racing she wanted to avoid but something at which Weekley excelled.
“He’s more the form side of things, the figures and the ratings,” Kah told News Corp in an exclusive interview during the week.
“I’m just how the horse is going in trackwork because I really don’t like getting into that part of racing.
“It’s not me. I just want to ride the horse, that’s all.”
Kah said Weekley occasionally provided a welcome handbrake to her enthusiasm over horses that provided her a great feel in trackwork. She said her manager was aware that impressive trackwork led to below-par race day performances with some horses.
“Something could have worked enormous on the Tuesday morning but he’ll tone it down because we can get a bit excited about a horse’s trackwork and it could come out and race poorly,” Kah said.
Kah said she was happy to put off the looming choice between Zaaki, on which she won last year’s All-Star Mile and Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington, and I’m Thunderstruck on which she has won twice and rode into fourth in Saturday’s CF Orr Stakes.
“There’s so much to play out still and they still have to both have their first-up runs,” Kah said.
“There’s still a lot to play out with Zaaki because he’s still not 100 per cent confirmed.”