âStressedâ Kah follows jockey rush to Queensland Jamie Kah. Pic: Getty. Comments
Jamie Kah admits she has been stressed by the situation which has forced her and other top Melbourne jockeys scrambling to get to Queensland early for a Group 1 Saturday because of potential new COVID measures in Victoria.
Kah was set to board a flight to Brisbane on Wednesday night, following the trail of other Victorian jockeys who had already made the decision to forgo Wednesday rides and head to the Sunshine State early.
With Victoria not ruling out a snap lockdown in response to new COVID-19 cases, jockeys including Melbourne Cup winners Jye McNeil and Craig Williams as well as John Allen and Ben Allen made the sudden decision to jet to Queensland on Wednesday.
RV ON RIDER SHORTAGE – WE’RE ONTO IT
April 8, 2021 4:10 pm
By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor
Racing Victoria has launched a track rider skills program aimed at furnishing the skills of track riders and is exploring a number of programs aimed at arresting the current crisis.
In a statement, RV said today that a rider accreditation program launched in November 2020 “to ensure the competency of track riders and provide a framework for upskilling” would be implemented for new track riders in July this year and in August for those already accredited to ride trackwork.
“We see the track rider accreditation as being a benefit to the industry by not only assessing and ensuring a rider can perform their job in a safe and competent manner, but to also help identify and progress those riders suitable for upskilling from slow through to fast work,” the statement read.
To paraphrase a successful senior jockey – good riders don’t need instructions and bad ones don’t follow them .
I note this in the wake of another messaging own goal coming from Racing Australia in a seemingly bizarrely timed Good Friday eve statement announcing an amendment to the Rules of Racing in relation to riding instructions.
This is the one that cemented jockeys only receive riding instructions from a trainer or owner of the horse they are riding.
Again in seeking – in RA’s own words – they didn’t want jockeys to be confused by receiving “conflicting riding instructions”.
Where did this come from? Where were the serious concerns raised, discussed, tabled and wrapped into this change? Which were later written away as merely formalising a “chain of command”, if you can get your head around that.
Industry condemns new Racing Australia rule regarding riding instructions
Industry pans new Racing Australia rule regarding riding instructions by Punters.com.au Damien Oliver talking with trainer Symon Wilde Image: Getty
An amendment to the Rules Of Racing which will prevent jockey agents and form analysts providing tactical instructions to jockeys has been met with widespread criticism.
In a release about the upcoming change, set to come into effect on May 1, Racing Australia said it was aware of the increasing prevalence of persons other than trainers and connections - such as riders agent and form analysts - providing tactical riding instructions to jockeys .