Champion jockey relieved as charge in ‘white powder’ case dismissed
Champion jockey Jamie Kah who was pictured next to lines of white powder has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Australia’s top female rider was recovering from a serious brain injury sustained in an horrific fall when photos emerged in June of her and two friends sitting around a grey plate on a table.
In one picture, Kah's hand appeared to be using a plastic card to split a mound of white powder on that plate. There was also a bag containing white power next to the plate on the kitchen top.
The images were filmed by stablehand Ruby McIntyre in a short video to which, the tribunal heard, she applied the caption, "Something to add to the list of things I never thought I'd be doing, doing coke with Jamie Kah and another friend at her house until 3am and staying the night."
Although the powder substance was never recovered so it could be tested, Kah and McIntyre were charged with conduct prejudicial to racing by stewards in Victoria.
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But after a lengthy disciplinary hearing, at which Kah’s lawyer said the jockey was never aware of being filmed nor that the pictures would enter the public domain, the charge was dismissed.
McIntyre had pleaded guilty, admitting she took the film covertly before publishing it on a private social media account.
Kah was pictured racking up a line of white powder (Social Media)Tribunal judge John Bowman told Kah, “It could be said that you behaved recklessly, setting up the white lines and a card with a comparative stranger on your premises. The question is whether that behaviour, that recklessness, is sufficient to comfortably satisfy us that there’s been a breach.
“Your behaviour may have been immature, irresponsible, and reckless, but there are two important features of it that have led us to our conclusion.
Jamie Kah: said it had been a "challenging and testing" chapter (Getty Images)“You did not know that the relevant short video or photo had been taken. Secondly you did not know at any relevant stage it had been sent on to another person or that it was proposed to be so sent.”
Kah, 27, has ridden more than 1,200 winners, including nine at Group 1 level. She is fifth in the Victoria Metro jockeys’ standing for the season.
In a statement released to , she said: "It's been the most challenging and testing year but I'm so relieved that I can put it behind me now and focus on racing and being happy."
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