Star jockey Jamie Kah has capped a roller-coaster day at Flemington with a gutsy win aboard Goldrush Guru in the $2 million Victoria Derby.
Kah won an earlier race, suffered a suspected broken nose in an incident with another of her mounts and was charged with careless riding before Saturday’s 2500m feature.
But the 28-year-old passed a medical assessment and was able to laugh off the drama, producing a brilliant ride in an emphatic triumph with Goldrush Guru.
The Andrew Gluyas-trained colt won by one-and-a-half lengths from Scary, with China Sea third and Kingofwallstreet fourth.
“Harry (Perks) the owner said, ‘You know what fixes broken noses? Champagne, and I’ll have plenty waiting for you when you cross the line first’,” Kah said.
“I’ll hold him to that.”
Kah is the second female jockey to win Australia’s oldest classic, after 2008 winner and fellow South Australian Clare Lindop.
Trainer Gluyas – another South Australian – was concerned for Kah after Danny-O’Brien-trained Hurry Curry twice reared her head back entering the stalls before the Wakeful Stakes and knocked the jockey in the face.
Kah, who spent six months out of action last year recovering from a severe head injury after a horror race fall, required treatment on a bloodied nose but was cleared to continue riding.
“It was just really troubling her even in that (Derby) ride,” Gluyas said.
“It’s probably broken, she said. There’s a lot of courage there.”
After her Derby win, Kah learnt she had been suspended for 10 meetings for careless riding on Kuroyanagi in The TAB Vanity.
The suspension will start on Wednesday, ruling Kah out of the final two days of the Melbourne Cup carnival.
But she is free to ride Okita Soushi in the race that stops a nation.
Kah claimed the first of her two wins on Saturday with an emotional victory aboard Another Wil in the Group 2 The Damien Oliver.
Kah and trainer Ciaron Maher were both close to prominent owner Colin McKenna, who died last Sunday, and fought back tears after the race.
Also on Derby day, powerful pair James McDonald and Chris Waller combined to win both the $2 million Coolmore Stud Stakes and $1 million Empire Rose Stakes.
The wins took superstar jockey McDonald’s tally of Group 1 victories to 102, after he reached the century a week earlier in a record-breaking Cox Plate triumph aboard Waller-trained Via Sistina.
Owned by the sponsors of the race, Switzerland assured his future as a stallion with what Waller branded an “arrogant” victory in the Coolmore.
The Mark Walker-trained Bellatrix star finished second, with race favourite Growing Empire third for Maher.
It was Waller’s sixth win in the past 12 editions of the Coolmore, and McDonald’s third in the past four.
“Colts winning today, it really is a big deal on the big stage,” Waller said.
“It was just an awesome win, it was really good. It was dominant, it was arrogant.
“James rode him perfectly, as we know James does, and he’s part of history.”
It was the second Coolmore win in combination for Waller and McDonald, who previously won the race with Home Affairs in 2021.
McDonald rode Waller’s Atishu to victory in the Empire Rose, beating Kah on Amelia’s Jewel.
The Maher-trained Socks Nation was third.
“I was a bit confident all week. Chris had a twinkling his eye about this horse,” McDonald said.
“It was a sensational effort and what a day. Derby Day is brilliant, lucky to be with a good team.”
