Equestrian background key to Kah style
JAMIE Kah highlights her approach to race riding with clarity. “I just love how they try so hard for you. When I won the Black Caviar Lightning on Nature Strip it was unreal. There was no crowd cheering (during a Covid lockdown) but when I pulled up and gave him a pat I just enjoyed that moment with the horse and thought, ‘wow, we did it, and you tried so hard’.”
Though Kah is quick to credit her equestrian upbringing for her all-round skills.
“I think I’m quite different to a lot of jockeys in Melbourne because they’ve been brought up with racing. I believe that my equestrian background has had a big influence on my riding style.
“I just ride the horse based on how it is feeling. I jump out the gates and let the horse show me where they want to sit and where they want to travel.
“I keep the horse as balanced as possible and I try and get the best out of the horse before going to the whip.”
Endorsed
It’s a view endorsed by leading Melbourne trainer Mick Price with whom Kah was on loan briefly as an apprentice.
“She is a 100% an equestrian girl who loves her horses, those equestrian girls are different in the way they ride,” said Price.
“Their core, and their balance, is more centred and they have a better seat on a horse.
“A lot of young jockeys who haven’t got an equestrian background tend to want to hang on to their horse’s mouth a bit, there is more pressure on the horse’s mouth for balance.
“Those equestrian kids, and I employ a few of them, I spent 17 years in the equestrian world with my daughters, and I notice the absolute respect they have for their horse. I wish a bigger part of apprentice school was equestrian work.”