After breaching state-based Covid laws and racing protocols, Australian racing authorities have chosen to make an example of champion jockey Jamie Kah. But, Shane McNally asks, at what cost?
While virtually nobody living in the lockdown capital of Melbourne has disputed that world-class rider Jamie Kah deserved a penalty for her curfew-breaking party attendance last month, the severity of the penalty and the public fallout is creating controversy across the Australian racing industry.
Racing news and social media went into meltdown when Kah received a three-month suspension for attending a party with several colleagues on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, on August 25. The debate raged again on September 16, when the Victorian Racing Tribunal (VRT) decided to add a further two months to the three months Kah was already serving for giving false evidence to stewards.
This would keep Melbourne’s reigning premier jockey away from race-riding until the end of January, removing her from the Melbourne Spring Carnival, including the Melbourne Cup, and seriously impacting her chances of shoring up rides for the rich autumn carnivals in Melbourne and Sydney.
It’s a massive - some say justified - setback for the young woman who has been a reluctant headline since taking South Australian racing by storm eight years ago. What it means for the long-term racing career of the exquisitely skilled horsewoman, who has long dreamed of competing as an equestrian at the Olympics, is yet to be seen.
In the shorter term, Kah, who is by some way the highest-ranked female rider in the world on TRC Global Rankings (she’s currently at #34), needs to deal with being the newly-humiliated face of Australian racing.
So what is Racing Victoria doing to protect her when she has been attacked on a daily basis across social media for attending the party and publicly shamed for rumour and innuendo over the theme of the party?
Two things cannot be argued. Attending the party was against the law during Melbourne's sixth Covid lockdown in 18 months, an offence that brings a $5,452 fine. It is also in breach of protocols set out for racing in Victoria, which like other Australian jurisdictions remarkably, has barely missed a race meeting since Covid hit early last year. These are the only facts that need addressing. That the jockeys attended the party is an issue - what did or did not happen there is nobody's business, despite the puritanical ramblings of many people across conservative news outlets and social media.
Mental health and wellbeing
At a time when Australian racing publicly prides itself on supporting people who need support within the industry and takes a stand on mental health and wellbeing issues, Kah has been left to carry the weight of the public outrage virtually by herself. Jockeys Ben Melham, Mark Zahra, Ethan Brown and apprentice Celine Gaudray all received three-month suspensions for being at the party, but Kah has been the only one making the headlines.
On its diversity and Inclusion page, Racing Victoria promotes participant wellbeing as well as gender diversity and a commitment to ensuring women “enter, remain and thrive in racing”.
In just over two and a half years since Kah left her hometown of Adelaide and took on world-class jockeys in Melbourne, she has become something of a poster girl for women in Australian racing. She went there without any established stable connections and worked tirelessly to dominate one of world racing’s strongest jockey precincts.
After barely putting a foot out of place throughout her career, Kah faltered. She did something wrong. Broke the rules. Ideally, the response to this would be a fair and consistent punishment. Kah was hardest hit with a further two months’ suspension for allegedly “misleading” stewards. Zahra received one extra month for the same offence and Gaudray copped two weeks.
It seemed not only racing authorities but the media and the broader public believed they were entitled to be judge, jury and executioner in the Kah case and they'd make an example of her. When the apology came, they'd judge that too.
Populist rhetoric
In the weeks that followed the initial three-month ban, racing journalists doubled up as editorialists and ripped into Kah for breaking the curfew and not being contrite enough while surreptitiously alluding to alleged ‘lewd’ behaviour at the party.
Everyone with a pen, some who could barely spell, had an opinion. The same people who condemned her for making her apology on social media, journalists and the public alike, ironically took to various social media platforms to further their attacks. They wanted to see her front a camera, citing others that had earned our forgiveness by falling on their swords for us, and nothing less than tears would do.
Populist rhetoric aside, the VRT had several options in handing down the additional penalty, including imposing a lesser sentence, a suspended sentence, or having Kah serve the two months concurrently. Tribunal Judge John Bowman chose the more severe option of having Kah serve the additional two months cumulatively to make it a five-month suspension.
The penalty continued RV's tough public stance on the matter, ‘public’ being the operative word.
In August, stewards made it clear that sending a public message was paramount in their decision to impose the three-month bans. “The penalty must also be seen to publicly address the seriousness of the offending and make clear that compliance with the Covid-19 protocols is non-negotiable."
Kah has launched Supreme Court action against the additional penalty. The basis of the appeal is her claim that she “unintentionally” misled stewards, rejecting claims of intentional lying that went to her integrity.
In announcing the Supreme Court action, Kah issued a statement: "... I answered every question asked of me by the stewards truthfully and yet I have been found guilty of giving false evidence. My reputation, which I have earned over my whole life as an honest person, is very important to me ..”
Regardless of the outcome of her court action, it’s going to be a long way back for the 25-year-old from rural South Australia who is firmly entrenched on the world’s top jockeys list and is far and away the best women rider on the planet. She has to re-establish herself with owners and trainers, let alone a sometimes unforgiving and uninformed racing public, as she rues a wasted season.
Kah’s suspension has made world racing headlines, with many who are unaware of Australia’s and particularly Victoria’s strict Covid laws believing the penalty was too harsh.
Regardless, she is not a banned person for some odious racing crime. She is simply suspended. The world will be watching to see how Racing Victoria, which has gone to lengths to make an example of the young champion, welcomes her back when the ban ends in January.