Kah caps stellar season by claiming Victorian Metropolitan Jockeys Premiership

Following the final meeting of the 2020-21 racing season at The Valley today (Saturday, 31 July), Jamie Kah has capped a stellar campaign in the saddle by claiming the Victorian Metropolitan Jockeys’ Premiership, while John Allen has won the Victorian Jockeys’ Premiership and the all-conquering team of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace were crowned the state’s leading trainers in both categories.

Kah’s record city tally of 105, which included victory aboard I’m Thunderstruck at The Valley this afternoon, saw her finish some 42 winners ahead of her nearest rival, Damian Lane. Kah’s meteoric rise has seen her ride 70 more city winners than she managed last season, when she finished eighth behind Craig Williams in the metropolitan premiership.    

Despite her dominance on metropolitan racetracks Kah could only manage second place in the 2020-21 Victorian Jockeys’ Premiership behind Allen, who rode a grand total of 144 winners – four more than Kah – across the state this season. The Irish-born hoop, who came fifth in last season’s overall premiership behind Jye McNeil, also finished in the minor places 210 times this campaign and earned his horses’ connections more than $8 million in prizemoney.

Young gun Will Price has capped a season to remember after being crowned the leading apprentice at both metropolitan and state level. Of his 73 winners this season, 47 have come in town which puts him fourth in the Victorian Jockeys’ Metropolitan Premiership and 26 clear of the next apprentice in the list, Teo Nugent. 

Ciaron Maher Racing were the runaway leaders of Victoria’s training ranks this year, saddling 73 winners in the city and a quite remarkable 228 winners in total across the 2020-21 season. The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr partnership and the Lindsay Park training team were the only other stables in triple figures, recording state-wide totals of 136 and 120 wins respectively. 

Their dominance was also replicated at metropolitan level, with Maher and Eustace supplanting last year’s premiership winners, Lindsay Park’s Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig, at the top of the standings. Lindsay Park finished second this season on 41, with Simon Zahra and Mathew Ellerton rounding out the top three on 38 city winners.            

Greg Carpenter, Racing Victoria’s (RV) Executive General Manager – Racing, has extended his congratulations to every premiership winner upon the conclusion of a season which saw racing’s records rewritten.

“The 2020-21 racing season will be remembered for many reasons but mainly for the dominance of Jamie Kah, who has assured her place in the history books with a record 105 metropolitan wins,” said Carpenter.

“Riding more than 100 city winners in a season is an amazing achievement, and her runaway victory in the metropolitan jockeys’ premiership will no doubt inspire her peers to try to emulate her success next season.

“Congratulations also goes to John Allen for winning the overall premiership, since arriving in Australia from Ireland initially as a jumps jockey he has now become an elite performer with 12 Group 1 wins to his name, and his victory is just reward for all his hard work and determination throughout the year. 

“Whilst leading apprentice Will Price has yet to win a Group 1, it seems only a matter of time before he joins that exclusive club after a breakthrough season which saw him finish fourth in the metropolitan premiership. 

“Our final note of congratulations goes to the training team of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, who have swept the boards in both the metropolitan and state premierships. Their outstanding success is testament to the astute planning, preparation and placing of their horses, so we applaud them and indeed their entire stable staff on a superb season.

“Lastly, I would like to thank every jockey, owner, trainer and member of stable staff who has participated in Victorian races this past season, and wish them every success in the coming campaign which starts tomorrow and offers an increase of $16 million in prizemoney.”

The premiership winners are set to be celebrated at the Victorian Racing Awards ceremony, which at this stage is scheduled to take place the evening of Saturday, 4 September.