On Track - Autumn 2021

16 KAH STAR POWER READY TO SHINE ON THE BIG STAGE Jamie Kah hasn’t ridden in an All-Star Mile yet, but that will change in 2021 when The Valley hosts the third edition of the $5 million race. Simply put, there wasn’t a chance her skills weren’t going to be on display in one of Australia’s richest races. Kah has taken Melbourne racing by storm this season, and she is on track to smash all Melbourne riding records this season. After seven months of the metropolitan season, she has ridden 69 winners at a strike rate of 20.30%. Smashing Brett Prebble’s record tally of 99 ½ winners set in 199/2000 is a formality for the 25-year-old. The question though, has been which horse would she be riding in the All-Star Mile. Mr Quickie’s connections knew they had the inside running, but they needed him to run well in the Futurity Stakes over 1400 metres at Caulfield before the superstar jockey committed to riding him. It was no wonder, the handful of owners who crowded around Kah for her debrief after Mr Quickie finished third in the Futurity Stakes behind Probabeel and Arcadia Queen were waiting with bated breath for her answer. In the video clip, Kah made all the right noises that she would be riding Mr Quickie. Kah addressed the owners who were hanging off her every word. “He’s just flying. He really wanted to do it. He was good today. he jumped well,” Kah told them. But there was one muffled question due to the on-course broadcast, which they really needed to know the answer to. Syndicate manager Wylie Dalziel asked: “Will you ride him in the All-Star Mile?” Kah replied, “definitely,” and the owners exhaled in a manner combining excitement with relief. “He’s really flying. He really wanted to push out at the finish. He really wanted to get going. On to the All-Star Mile,” Kah told them. Kah and Dalziel had reached an understanding that she would ride Mr Quickie in the Futurity Stakes, and she would make up her mind after that run. “She had committed to the Futurity Stakes and would make her mind after that,” Dalziel said. “I had said to her if he didn’t run well, she could get off.” Dalziel described it as a coup for them to get Kah to ride Mr Quickie in the All-Star Mile. “To have Jamie Kah align with us is really exciting. Our plan was always to try and keep her on for the All-Star Mile and we’ve got her,” Dalziel said. They then used Kah on social media to ramp up his votes, and Dalziel believed this was also a strong factor in him gaining sufficient votes to get into tenth place with 6,168 votes to get the final Top 10 position. By Michael Manley