It might not quite be the ‘nervous nineties,’ but Jamie Kah is currently pushing the scoreboard along one single at a time as she inches closer to a landmark century of wins in the Victorian Metropolitan Jockey’s Premiership.
Yesterday she moved from 96 to 97 winners with a decisive win aboard the Pat Carey trained Crestani. Like she has done for most of the season, Kah made a race winning decision … this time by pushing the Nicconi gelding forward early and the duo never let anyone else into the race winning every bit as easily as the 4.25 length margin suggests.
But Kah could did not add to her winning tally in her five remaining rides on the day.
It was a similar story last Saturday where Kah came away from Caulfield with just one winner (Pintoff) and, while the doubles and the trebles might have dried up temporarily over the last couple of meetings, Kah will still be very happy keeping the scoreboard moving forward as she homes in on the majestic, historic one hundred metropolitan wins that she has targeted … and sacrificed for … for so long.
Now, with those 97 wins behind her name, the Jamie Kah Premiership train will pull into Flemington on Saturday where Kah has a book of eight rides which she will be looking to convert into three winners so she can relax just that little bit … although she will obviously try to stretch out that new record, once attained, as much as possible.
In New South Wales the relentless line of winners produced by James McDonald has at last set him free from the equally determined challenge of Tommy Berry, whose fading hopes ultimately were dashed by a suspension.
McDonald leads the Premiership by 121 wins to Berry’s 104. The century return, which McDonald has done before and which is a first for Berry, stands as a huge accolade to these two so-talented riders.
While Kah and McDonald have the Melbourne and Sydney Jockey’s Premiership wrapped up respectively. in Brisbane the Metropolitan Premiership has come down to a two-horse race with one month of the season left to run.
Ryan Maloney, who would be a first-time winner, currently leads Jim Byrne by two winners.
Both riders have been winless in the last two Metropolitan meetings.
Maloney relocated to Queensland in mid-2018 and has produced a stream of winners since arriving in the Sunshine State while Byrne is a fixture in the Queensland racing scene having won his first of several Premierships all the way back in 1997/98.
That Premiership race could get a whole lot closer on Saturday at the Sunshine Coast meeting … the last of the Queensland Racing Carnival … where Byrne has eight rides to Maloney’s five bookings.
Byrne’s rides include Dzsenifer in the Group 3 Winx Guineas, Mirage Dancer in the Listed Caloundra Cup and Charleise in the Listed Glasshouse.
Maloney’s feature race rides are Tumbler Ridge in the Guineas and Stockman in the Caloundra Cup.
