The confirmation by the Hong Kong Jockey Club that Jamie Kah will represent Australia, along with Jye McNeil, in the prestigious Longines International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley on December 7 adds further lustre to the Kah’s already formidable reputation as a race rider.
But there is work to be done first before Kah jets off for her first taste of action in Hong Kong.
The star jockey has been booked to ride Sacred Croix in the Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup at Kranji on Saturday where the son of Savabeel will be looking to go on better after his narrow defeat in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Cup.
That run was over 1800m and Sacred Croix was flying late … only going down by a neck. That was an obvious positive effort, but trainer Jerome Tan is still concerned about Sacred Croix getting the 2000m trip of Gold Cup on Saturday (he has been unsuccessful in previous runs over the distance), but he is hopeful that Kah can play a part in making that happen.
This will be Sacred Croix’s fourth attempt at the Singapore Gold Cup, having contested the race in 2019, 2020 and 2021 when he was trained by Mark Walker.
Kah has ridden at Kranji before … but you have to go all the way back to 2014 to find the three-week stint she had in Singapore as the Dux of the South Australian Apprentice Academy.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and now the multiple Group 1 winning rider and Premiership winner will arrive in town as something of a celebrity with her presence adding further interest to the meeting.
And then, soon, it will be off to Hong Kong for that International Jockey’s Championship at Happy Valley where she will rub shoulders and compete against some of the world’s top riders … Zac Purton, Ryan Moore, Tom Marquand, Holly Doyle, Yuka Kawada, Mickael Barzalona, to name a few … and, of course, her old sparring partner James McDonald, who will be representing New Zealand on the night.
Talk about living the dream!
