A race-to-race double in the opening two races at Flemington has pushed Jamie Kah closer to the magical 100-win mark in Melbourne.
Jamie Kah has moved into the nervous 90s with an early double at Flemington in her bid to become the first rider to crack the 100-win mark in the metropolitan area in Melbourne.
Kah has now ridden 91 winners for the season after piloting Grand Promenade to an easy win in the VRC Member Emma Sargeant Plate (2500m) which was followed by Snickerdoodledandy in the VRC Ben Edney Trophy (1400m) on Saturday.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s meeting there are 13 meetings remaining for the 2020-21 season.
Brett Prebble came closest to the magical mark in the 1999-2000 season when he rode 99-½ winners before Racing Victoria moved to record a dead-heat victory as a win in the premiership in 2011.
The leading rider’s double came up in contrasting styles with Grand Promenade, a 1.35 favourite, leading practically throughout in recording a four-length win while Snickerdoodle Dandy, the $3.30 favourite, came from last in scoring by a long neck.
Kah elected to stay off the fence early on Grand Promenade to force her main danger Haky to cover ground, and while the tactic worked, Grand Promenade did over-race early.
However, once Kah allowed the stayer to roll to the front, Grand Promenade settled better and had the race in his keeping turning for home.
“Haky tried to put some pressure on us at the 1000 (metre mark), I could feel him (there), but my horse was just toying with him, he had so much left,” Kah said.
“It was like he was waiting for them to put pressure on him because I had a lapful of horse underneath me.”
Kah thought Snickerdoodledandy was impressive.
“That leader (Witchfulthinking), when it is right, is very hard to catch and I thought it was a massive effort from my horse from the rear of the field to build and pick it up like it did,” Kah said.
