Are there kids aged two riding ponies as good as Kah in NZ?

[Chief Stipe]

There's no denying Jamie Kah is clearly the headline act in racing

Article Author

Bruce Clark

4:55PM15 February 2021

21 Comments

Put aside the multimillion dollar investment in the All-Star Mile to promote racing relevance, the sport’s biggest ticket right now is, and continues to be Jamie Kah.

Jockey, not “female jockey”, nothing to do with Michelle Payne, or any of those who worked hard to achieve before her, Kah is without question racing’s No. 1 star.

So she loses the ride on Nature Strip because of borders, despite chaperoning him to a Group 1 Lightning Stakes win. That was Group 1 No. 4, and achieved on a far from easy horse to manage.

Ash Barty in tennis, Sam Kerr in soccer, Elyse Perry in cricket, surfing, basketball, swimming stars, add whatever sport you like, all mentioned in similarly comparable terms to Kah, the relevance is irrelevant, the focus on the talent and achievement and marketability is what’s important.

After three winners at Flemington Saturday, Kah made page three of the Sunday Herald Sun (see below) for what she does and did, not tokenism. She is now talked about for the right reason, success not gender.

And it wouldn’t bother her one bit.

I’ve mentioned she would be a shoe-in for Hong Kong based on performance, but Hong Kong is a closing shop for Australians and has never been an open shop for females.

Not that Kah needs it. She will win the Melbourne premiership and touch wood, take the 100 winners with it.

Dwayne Dunn resumes riding this week after injury, as a South Australian, his link to Kah is via his father Barry who “had a bit to do with her when she got started, but always believed she would make it.”

“To be honest being a female then meant you had to be twice as good to get the opportunities. She is, but more so because she is a good horsewoman and has a love for the animals,” Dunn said.

“She has bought another dimension to the game, it’s not her whole life, which is why things don’t seem to fluster her, she has a good balance in more ways than one, I’m sure she has an equestrian passion as much as riding winners, but she just seems to let horse travel for her rather than the other way around.”

For a sport struggling for mainstream traction – put aside the whip discussion (which will be raised this week) - and share the stories of Kah, Rachel King and Jessica Eaton.

Kah grew up riding miniature ponies (at two) and breaking in horses, when she was eight, now her passion away from riding winners is rehoming them. Horsewoman – horseperson!

[Freda]

She seems a great young woman, as are the others mentioned in the article.

I have a super vid. of a gorgeous ten-year-old girl, scampering around a cross-country course on her Dartmoor pony..but I can't share it for some reason.

She'd be made of the same stuff, I reckon.