With the Group 1 monkey off the back of Jamie Kah in her hometown of Adelaide, the leading rider will be looking to go back-to-back on Saturday.
The win aboard Coco Sun in the South Australian Derby was Kah’s 13th Group 1 victory and while she will never forget her first aboard Harlem in the Australian Cup in 2019, last Saturday’s win meant so much.
Kah started her career in South Australia and quickly rose through the ranks, establishing herself as the leading rider in Adelaide before, as Tony McEvoy put it, she outgrew the state and moved to Victoria.
After some tough times to begin with, Kah eventually rose to the top and in the 2000-2021 season became the first jockey to ride more than 100 winners in the Melbourne metropolitan area.
But a South Australian Group 1 was what Kah harboured, which she finally achieved last Saturday, and she will be looking to go back-to-back when she rides Benedetta in The Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville on Saturday.
“That was something I’d been looking at for the past couple of months,” Kah said of her breakthrough Group 1 win in Adelaide.
“It was good having family around, especially having Mum and Dad at the races.”
Benedetta enters Saturday’s race coming off a last start third to Goodwood rival Climbing Star in the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes (1200m) on April 27.
Kah gets aboard Benedetta for the first time on Saturday and explained it was the connections of the mare that had been chasing her.
“The owners had been contacting my manager (Lachie Weekley) for the last few runs,” Kah said.
“I was speaking to one of the owners at Warrnambool this year and I had a talk with Lachie.
“Her run in the Sangster was super the other day, so it really was a bit of a no-brainer.”
Benedetta has come up with barrier three on Saturday and Kah said she was not at all worried about the inside draw.
“You want to draw well there,” she said.
“They have been getting off the rail a bit lately in the last few meetings, but the rail has been absolutely fine.
“I’m happy to be drawn in and hug the rail and save as much ground as we can.
“It would be special to win The Goodwood. She’s been around the mark, and she’s just got to find half-a-length on her Sangster run.”
