Kieran Fallon: Riding high

Kieran Fallon is an exceptional jockey with an innate understanding of horses. The major highs of his career are matched only by controversial lows, the latest of which puts his future in the sport in jeopardy
By Christy O'Connor

Exactly ten years ago, there was a celebratory function held for Kieran Fallon in the Roslevan Arms on the outskirts of Ennis. Fallon had just become British Champion Jump Jockey for the first time and the function room was crammed with Clare people expressing their goodwill and support for the man from Ballinruan. Fallon later admitted that what made the evening even more special was that many of the Clare hurlers were in attendance.

Fallon appeared slightly shy and taken aback from the attention from some of the players but Clare had won their second All-Ireland in three years and there were many similarities to link that achievement with Fallon's success.
Although Clare had won their first All-Ireland for 81 years in 1995, both Clare and Fallon had  unexpectedly taken their respective sports by storm and established themselves at the top of the tree.

Fallon's rise had been astonishing. He didn't come from a racing background and was a journeyman operating in the less glamorous setting of north England. When he first hit the headlines, it was for all the wrong reasons; he was suspended for six months in 1994 after pulling Stuart Webster off his horse at the Yorkshire racecourse of Beverly. Yet within three years, he'd ridden over 200 winners on his way to becoming Champion Jockey and had secured his first British Classic on Sleepytime in the English 1,000 Guineas.

The morning after that celebratory function in 1997, Fallon spoke over breakfast in the Auburn Lodge hotel in Ennis about how he'd “learned from his previous mistakes” and about how he intended to “make the most of the future”. Ten years on, Fallon had kept one part of that promise by becoming the most gifted jockey of his generation. Yet, his career has continually been damaged by failing to adhere to the second part; he hasn't always absorbed the lessons of the past to make the most of his future.

After he was cleared on conspiracy charges to defraud Betfair customers on 7 December, Fallon's career was back in jeopardy on the following morning after a second failed drugs test for a banned substance was confirmed in France. If the B samples are positive, and sources suggest that they also contained traces of cocaine, Fallon could face a further suspension of at least 18 months.

Fallon tested positive after riding Myboycharlie in the Prix Morny at Deauville in August, two months after finishing a six month ban imposed by France Galop, the French racing authority, for a similar offence at Chantilly in June 2006. To compound his woes, Fallon could face further charges and possible suspension under the racing rules.

When he walked free from the Old Bailey after the collapse of the conspiracy case against him and five others, Fallon's 17-month suspension from racing in the United Kingdom was automatically lifted. But evidence gathered in the investigation, though not used in the trial, will be passed back to the British Racing Authority by the City of London Police and could lead to further action.

Nobody knows what's going to happen next. Fallon's employers at Coolmore Stud, John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, showed him great support throughout his corruption case and spent in excess of £3m on his defence. Even after his licence was contentiously suspended pending his trial, he remained their first choice rider wherever possible. But when Coolmore issued a statement in support of Fallon on the evening he was cleared, it was couched in the past tense and made no commitment as to the rider's future.

Although Coolmore could be prepared to wait and trainer Aidan O'Brien will use the best pilots available in the interim, Fallon's career is still seriously at risk. If his B samples are positive and he does face 18 months on the sideline, he would not be free to resume racing until the 2009 season at the very earliest. By then, Fallon will be 44.
All that is certain now is that Fallon's story has been one of the most thrilling and most successful stories that racing has known, but it has been dogged with controversy. His innate understanding of horses coupled with his huge will to win made Fallon one of the greatest Flat racing jockeys of all time.

The case launched against him by the Jockey Club was scandalously unfair and proven to be groundless, and Fallon was able to detach himself from the furore. He has a sense of focus and commitment that no other jockey of his generation could hope to match.

The day before appearing at the Old Bailey he was able to win the ‘Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe'. Coolmore trainer Aidan O'Brien once said: “When Kieran gets on a horse, he's in a different land; it's a land that the rest of us do not understand.”

Despite his continual success, there has always been an underlying sense of  smoke and fire running through his career. In 1998, Fallon, the trainer Lynda Ramsden and her husband sued the Sporting Life newspaper for alleging that they had deliberately thrown a race at Newmarket. In 2002, he featured in a Panorama documentary about corruption in racing in which he denied he ever stopped horses.

Two years later, he was banned for 21 days after easing up on Ballinger Ridge at Lingfield and was caught at the finishing line. Then the News of the World alleged Fallon and fellow jockey Jonny Egan conspired to fix races. A Jockey Club investigation into whether the two men had brought the sport into disrepute was dropped after the Club ruled that there was no case to answer. A pattern had been established though; despite being cleared, Fallon continues to face accusations of wrongdoing. He hasn't been able to keep out of the news off the track either. In 1999, he was sacked by trainer Henry Cecil for what were termed ‘personal differences'. In 2003, he entered rehab after admitting a problem with alcohol.

During all that time though, he continued to produce the goods in the saddle. A six time champion jockey and winner of 15 Classics in England, some of those wins etched his name into legend. He showed his sheer class on Golan in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in 2002. After his extraordinary ride on Kris Kin in the 2003 Derby, trainer Michael Stoute later described it as “one of the great Derby rides”. After an outstanding ride on Dylan Thomas brought him his second ‘Arc de Triomphe' in October, Fallon returned to the winners' enclosure in Longchamps wielding the Irish tricolour and to an emotional ovation. But after this latest controversy, who knows if there will be any more of those great days again.

The last ten years of Kieran Fallon's life have certainly been an amazing rollercoaster. But in ten years time, Fallon may still look back and wonder where it all went wrong.