Top jockey’s dad says she will survive Covid party scandal
STAR jockey Jamie Kah will “come out the other side” of her Covid-19 rule-breaking party scandal, her father says.
Former Winter Olympian John Kah said his daughter was “OK” despite her world crumbling when she was caught by police having a noisy party at an Airbnb with four other jockeys.
The Covid-19 rule breach led to a three-month ban, with Kah facing a longer stint on the sidelines if she is slapped with an extra penalty for misleading stewards about the attendance of a fifth jockey.
Kah was set for a mega payday of endorsement deals over the Spring Racing Carnival, similar to the deals inked by Olympic gold medal swimmer Ariarne Titmus following her success in Tokyo.
But talks about Kah’s sponsorships have been thrown into disarray by her ban.
John Kah, who represented Australia in short track speed skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics, backed his daughter in following the Covid-19 breach.
“She’s OK, she will come out the other side of it,” Mr Kah said.
Kah is halfway through a 14day ban from trackwork, and was understood to be devastated at her mistake. She said last week she was “deeply embarrassed.”
But now there are questions about whether she will return to the track at all, and instead follow an earlier dream to be an Olympic equestrian rider.
The 25-year-old was booted for three months from the sport for a 16-hour Airbnb party that broke Victoria’s Covid-19 rules, including its strict 9pm curfew.
Kah had been staying at the $500 a night luxury home on and off because she had been having relationship issues with her fiance Clayton Douglas.
Mr Douglas declined to comment. The ban also includes Ben Melham, Celine Gaudray, Mark Zahra and Ethan Brown.
Originally, four of them did not disclose that veteran horseman Mark Zahra, 39, also attended the clandestine gathering and that decision could extend their bans.