Jockey Jamie Kah will finally get her chance to ride a star Godolphin mare when she resumes from a pain-enforced break at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Kah missed last weekend’s racing after undergoing surgery to remove wisdom teeth but she declared herself fit to ride in Brisbane on Saturday.
“I thought I’d be fine for last Saturday and I waited until Wednesday morning but I was still swollen and sore,” Kah said.
“I should have had them done ages ago but I’d put it off and they needed to get done.”
Kah will be aboard In Secret for the first in the Group 1 Kingsford Smith Cup after missing the ride on the James Cummings-trained mare in last year’s Newmarket Handicap.
Kah sustained serious injuries in a fall earlier on the day, leaving jockey Dean Holland to ride In Secret to an iconic win in the Newmarket a matter of weeks before his fatal fall.
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Kah won this year’s Newmarket on Cylinder, producing some wonderful images as she celebrated the win alongside Holland’s widow and children in the Flemington mounting yard.
The star jockey will also chase another Group 1 win aboard Saban in the Queensland Derby while Godolphin has also booked Kah for the Champagne Stakes winner Broadsiding in the Sires’ Produce Stakes.
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Kah will need to be at her best to win on Saban and Broadsiding after the pair drew barriers 16 and 21 for their respective assignments.
The remaining meetings of the Brisbane Winter Carnival will be Kah’s last before she takes a break following a hectic autumn that yielded five Group 1 wins, including The Goodwood and South Australian Derby in her home state earlier this month.
“I was off for six months last year but that was the hardest six months of my life. It definitely wasn’t a holiday,” she said.
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“Things have been going amazingly this year and I definitely can’t complain about that but I am getting a bit drained mentally.
“I’m just going to take winter off. I don’t like the cold so I’m going to do a few more weeks in Queensland then take a break.”
TAB rated In Secret as a $9 chance to win the Kingsford Smith Cup after Tuesday’s acceptances.
I Wish I Win is the $3.30 favourite ahead of Think About It and Bella Nipotina at $16.
Australian Oaks winner Autumn Angel is the $2.60 favourite in Queensland Derby betting ahead of Tannahauser at $4.20.
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Originally published as Jamie Kah resumes from a short break with ride on In Secret in Saturday’s Group 1 Kingsford Smith Cup