Jamie Kah will miss the Caulfield Guineas and Caulfield Cup meetings after being found guilty by the Victorian Racing Tribunal of not permitting Let’sfacethemusic every opportunity for a best placing in last month’s Group 3 McNeil Stakes at Caulfield.
Racing Victoria stewards on Thursday called for the champion rider to be suspended for a period of not less than six weeks, but the VRT determined the breach of ARR 129 (2) was worthy of a three-week suspension.
Kah’s ban begins from midnight on September 28 and goes through until Sunday, October 20, which is the day after Caulfield Cup Day.
She had pleaded not guilty to the charge of not permitting Let’sfacethemusic every opportunity of a best placing in the McNeil Stakes after failing to take runs between the 175-metre mark and 100-metre mark and again near the 75-metre mark.
VRT deputy chairperson Kathryn Kings handed down the verdict just before 3pm on Thursday, where she said the tribunal was satisfied Kah had not taken all permissible measures to obtain the best placing in the field.
After a short break following penalty submissions, Kings said: “We are satisfied that between the 175-metre and 100-metre mark, there was a sufficient gap and opportunity for you to be able to ride your mount with sufficient vigour or purpose to improve your position.
“We are satisfied that this ride did not involve a mere error of judgement on your part but when viewed objectively, the failure to take the run, which presented itself and was available to be taken for approximately eight strides, represented a breach of rule 129 (2) and was a departure from the standard of racing to be expected of a rider of your standing.
“We acknowledge that the horse raced keenly at the early stages but during the relevant period the horse raced tractably.
“Further, in relation to your ride in the last 75 metres of the race, we are satisfied you failed to ride out your mount with sufficient vigour when it was reasonable and permissible to do so.
“While we acknowledge the evidence of the historical racing manners of each horse, we are satisfied that you did not use sufficient vigour or purpose, therefore not giving your horse every opportunity to obtain the best possible place in the field.”
The hearing was adjourned for lunch at around 1:40pm after both RV stewards and Kah’s representative Matthew Stirling had completed submissions on the charge and when it returned, Kah was found guilty.
Let’sfacethemusic ($8.50) ultimately finished fifth in the race, some 4.5 lengths from the winner.
Corie Waller, who was acting chief steward on the day at Caulfield, told the tribunal that Kah’s ride was a culpable one under the rule as she did not give her horse every chance to obtain its best placing after failing to take the run in the home straight between Band Of Brothers and Stay Focussed.
RV stewards last week issued Kah one charge under AR 129(2), which reads as follows: AR 129(2): A rider must take all reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure that the rider’s horse is given full opportunity to win or to obtain the best possible place in the field.
Kah told the tribunal that although the vision of the race shows there appears to be a gap for her to take, she said she did not feel safe in doing so.
“Out there, I didn’t feel like the gap was open,” she said.
She said Let’sfacethemusic had proven difficult to ride and earlier in the race had locked its jaw, which meant she lost control for a short period.
She conceded that her opinion that Let’sfacethemusic was a dangerous horse may have contributed to her not taking the run in question on the day.
Waller said stewards believed Let’sfacethemusic had more to give in the race and said that despite Kah’s evidence, there was no sign in the replay of the race that the colt was difficult to ride and appeared ‘responsive to the actions of its rider’.
He said stewards had estimated it was reasonable and safe for Kah to take the gap between the two leaders for a total of eight strides from about the 175-metre mark.
Tthe eight strides amounted to about 56 metres or 15 per cent of the home straight at Caulfield, where stewards argued it was reasonable for Kah to take the run.
Stirling said given the unruly manners of Let’sfacethemusic, the jockey simply did not feel confident to take the run given its racing manners and the strong wind at Caulfield on the day.
According to Stirling, the horse was ‘literally dangerous’ in his racing manners and so it required due caution from Kah when considering taking the run.
Kah told stewards that Let’sfacethemusic had locked its jaw during the race and had done so five days earlier when she rode the colt for the first time in a track gallop.
She said a rider loses control over a horse that locks its jaw.
Stirling said Kah had intimate knowledge of the ramifications of riding a horse that locks its jaw as that it what happened when she took a near-fatal fall at Flemington in 2023, which left her in a coma for six days and unable to ride again for six months.
Stirling said an extremely windy day can have an effect on racehorses, who ‘hate’ such conditions, but it can also dull the hearing of jockeys.
He said if any of the three horses involved had shifted a ‘quarter of a horse or half a horse, the jockey’s finished. They are in the ambulance’.
“Who are the stewards to criticise Kah for that ride?” he said.
“She was the one that spent a week in in ICU last year because of a horse locking its jaw. I think she knows the risks of riding a horse with those traits a little better than the stewards and, with respect, a little better than (the trainer) Mr Price.”
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