Jamie Kah continued her sensational start to the Melbourne Cup Carnival rocketing home for South Australia in Saturday’s feature to score an emphatic 2024 Victoria Derby win aboard Goldrush Guru.

The Andrew Gluyas-trained American Pharoah colt from Morphettville, Goldrush Guru, came into Flemington’s Group 1 $2 million Victoria Derby (2500m) off a string of good runs at home and firmly franked the form from Adelaide with a big performance at headquarters.

“I’m speechless, overwhelmed, proud, satisfied. Great moment. I’ll be celebrating in South Australia tonight,” Gluyas told the media post-victory.

Backing up from a Listed Hill Smith (1800m) win by two lengths on October 19, Goldrush Guru switched off beautifully for Kah who got her mount in an ideal one-one position in an absolute peach of a Derby performance by horse and hoop.

It was an incredible ride from Kah who earlier in the day suffered a knock to the nose that resulted in a bleed before being cleared to ride.

“I was a little bit concerned,” Gluyas said of the Kah incident.

“She’s taken a blow to the nose and it’s really troubling her, even in that ride. Probably broken, she said.

“There’s a lot of courage there.”

Hot Too Go led the field around in Australia’s oldest classic race while Goldrush Guru got all the favours one off the fence in fourth throughout.

On the straight Kah began her move aboard the eventual Victoria Derby winner who went up to the frontrunner with 500m to go before taking up the lead and running away in a powerhouse run from the up-and-coming young stayer.

Kah went for home at the 150m and from there it was all Goldrush Guru who crossed 1.5 lengths clear of the Emma-Lee & David Browne-trained runner-up Scary, a son of 2009 Melbourne Cup winner Shocking, who ran out of his skin as a 40/1 outsider.

In third to complete the Victoria Derby trifecta was John Sargent‘s Fastnet Rock gelding China Sea.

“It means everything to us. Obviously we love riding Group 1 winners, but it just makes it so much more special when it’s for some fantastic people like Andrew,” Kah said.

“I used to ride for Andrew and Leon. I rode some shockers back in the day for them, so it was nice to repay them on the big stage on Derby Day.

“My plan was to get back on him. Couldn’t hold him early. I was going to be wide and somehow found a little gap to slot into.

“Once I found the gap, he just fell asleep and gave me a beautiful run throughout.

“He won it a long way out and I could have stopped him for another lap, but he wanted to keep going.

“They’ve trained this horse to perfection. He’s looked good winning in Adelaide but obviously the class is a bit different.

“I didn’t know how we were going to measure up, but they’ve done a good job!”