Champion jockey Jamie Kah has been cleared of conduct prejudicial to the image of racing in relation to the white powder controversy.
The decision to dismiss the charge, delivered on Friday by Victorian Racing Tribunal Judge John Bowman, has drawn to a close a six-month legal argument, News Corp reports.
In handing down his decision, Bowman said he was not comfortably satisfied Kah’s conduct was prejudicial because she did not know the video was being filmed and sent.
A picture of Kah emerged in late June of the nine-time Group 1-winner raking a white powder into three lines during a small gathering at her house.
Co-accused, gathering attendee and stablehand Ruby McIntyre was guilty of the same charge.
Kah and McIntyre, who both pleaded not guilty, were charged by stewards with conduct prejudicial to the image, interests, integrity or welfare of racing.
McIntyre at the hearing last month accepted responsibility for recording Kah covertly and sharing the footage on a private social media account.
McIntyre told the tribunal last month she never expected nor intended the vision to be shared further.
Kah’s barrister Matthew Stirling successfully argued the short video and screenshot was captured and shared on social media by McIntyre, without his client’s knowledge.
The compromising footage was widely published after being leaked to the Herald Sun.
Kah and McIntyre, who represented herself, both pleaded not guilty at the earliest opportunity.
McIntyre’s penalty hearing has been set for January 18.
The controversial “white powder” case surrounding champion jockey Jamie Kah is set for a decision on Friday morning.
The Victorian Racing Tribunal is scheduled to hand down its decision on Kah and stablehand Ruby McIntyre at 9.30am.
Kah and McIntyre, who both pleaded not guilty, were charged by stewards with conduct prejudicial to the image, interests, integrity or welfare of racing.
The decision follows two days of evidence, in which Kah’s barrister Matthew Stirling slammed the case against Kah, accusing Racing Victoria of attacking Kah’s “integrity and honesty” in a “cowardly way and a most disrespectful way”.
Counsel acting for stewards, however, said Kah’s blameworthiness and recklessness was substantiated because “she ought to have known her actions were being filmed”.
McIntyre told the tribunal on November 13 she discreetly recorded Kah raking the white powder substance on a plate, at Kah’s home, in June.
The length of time the case has dragged on has been met with widespread criticism.
In a hearing last month, McIntyre lamented her “big mistake”.
“I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything,” McIntyre said.
“It was a big mistake trusting someone to send a very private video to, I understand everything that has come from that has come from the video I had on my phone.
“I guess in the way it was sent, just how private it was and how it was a one-time thing, it has shocked me how it’s been able to come out… that was never my intention.”
