SPRING must be a distant memory now for Jamie Kah, the champion jockey having missed the entire spring following a breach of Covid rules.

She reasserted herself with the winning ride on Zaaki in the A$5 million All Star Mile at Flemington on Saturday.

Pushing forward as the widest runner in the 15-horse field, Kah had the Leroidesanimaux gelding one off the fence and at the girth of the leader. Going to the front with 300 metres to run Zaaki powered away winning by two lengths from the Shocking gelding I’m Thunderstruck and Magnus gelding Streets Of Avalon.

“It just means so much more after coming back and what we had to go through, I missed out on so many big opportunities through spring. It was just so special,” said Kah post-race.

“It’s pretty simple when you ride a horse like him, you’ve just got to get him into his rhythm and he’s just an absolute machine when you let him do his thing and I felt that on the turn, but sometimes those horses don’t sustain that and he’s just the opposite. He’s a superstar, he just gets stronger and stronger.”

Having missed the Cox Plate year with an elevated temperature, it’s a race that remains on Zaaki’s dance card.

“That was the lowest of lows. It was so disappointing for everyone involved, so for him to win a race like this, hopefully he’ll be back in the Cox Plate this year for some unfinished business,” said trainer Annabel Neasham, adding that the immediate plan was to return to Sydney to tackle the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Zaaki, a solid Group 3 horse for Sir Michael Stoute before being sold for 150,000gns, has now had 11 starts under Neesham for seven wins including three Group 1s.

Laws Of Indices

Neasham, who was born in England and moved to Australia just six years ago, also trains Laws Of Indices, winner of the Prix Jean Prat and Railway Stakes for Ken Condon before being exported.

The four-year-old, bred by Nicky Hartery, put in a big run at Rosehill, leading down the straight in the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes over seven and a half furlongs.

On his tail though was the favourite Forbidden Love who swept to the lead just before the 100-metre mark, winning by a length from the Hallowed Crown mare Colette, with Laws Of Indices in third.

It was a third win in a row for the All Too Hard filly, completing a Group 1 double. “She’s a mare in superb form,” said jockey Hugh Bowman.

“Richard and Michael (Freedman) have managed her just amazingly and she does enjoy the wet track, so she’s been one of the lucky recipients of all this rain that’s been around.

“She doesn’t need the rain to perform but she certainly comes to her best when it’s around.”

Forbidden Love now looks a likely runner in the A$3 million Doncaster Mile at Randwick on April 2nd.