Jamie Kah found is guilty of further charges

JAMIE Kah has been given a total of five months with the Victorian Racing Tribunal penalising the star rider on Friday for her part in last month’s illegal Airbnb gathering during a lockdown.

Kah fronted the stewards Wednesday to defend a charge of providing misleading information.

Unfortunately for Kah, stewards sustained the charge. “In our opinion the words false or misleading are broad enough to include what can be described as falsity or being misleading by way of omission or silence,” said Judge Bowman.

Kah’s barrister Damian Sheales put up an impassioned defence highlighting the public humiliation his client had suffered.

“For a breach of the Covid rules in these circumstances, this is a world-record penalty that she has taken on the chin,” said Sheales. “She has already missed out the rides on the winners of the only two Group 1 races this season. They were both A$1 million races.

“She had the rides on – I’ve never seen a favourite (Zaaki) so short at 6/4 this far out from the Cox Plate – she had the ride on him and she had the ride on Incentivise, the favourite for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup.”

For her part, Kah is determined to get back in the saddle. “I’m definitely not done with yet. I’ve got the hunger and determination to keep going. Sitting out of the spring has been really tough because I really wanted to make it one of the best springs I’ve had. I want to come back bigger and better than ever and there’s so much more to do.”

Racing Victoria mandates vaccinations

LAST week’s Board meeting at Racing Victoria saw the signing off on mandatory vaccinations for all racing participants. Having taken legal advice and recommendations from their own chief medical officer, Racing Victoria have set Caulfield Cup day, October 16th as the date participants must have at least one vaccination in order to enter a Victorian racetrack. After which all participants must be fully vaccinated by Zipping Classic Day, 27th November.

“It is therefore imperative that we do our utmost to protect the health and safety of our workforce and of the industry, which has been able to safely continue over the past 18 months courtesy of strict biosecurity protocols,” said RV CEO Giles Thompson.

“Our participants want to protect themselves, their families and their livelihoods as social restrictions ease in the future and we see greater movement across the state and mandatory vaccination as a condition of entry is our way to do that.”