the most likely misunderstood & misjudged jockey of all-time.

​One aspect of Kieran Fallon’s life you must always remember and respect is that when it comes to court cases he never loses, ever. Remember the Top Cees incident and his libel case against the Sporting Life for publicly accusing him of stopping Top Cees in the previous race to his win in the Chester Cup. He received an award of £70,000 from the Sporting Life. Lynda Ramsden, Top Cees trainer received £75,000 and her husband Jack £50,000. The judgement against them was the catalyst for the Sporting Life’s demise, no doubt.
The national newspapers seemingly had a vendetta against him. Fallon, they were of the opinion, had to be guilty of something. Remember the ‘fake sheikh’ from the ‘News of the World’. They accused him of having an affair with Henry Cecil’s wife. The upshot of that lurid affair was that the newspaper only claimed Cecil’s wife was having an affair with a ‘top jockey’ but all the same Fallon lost his coveted job as retained jockey at Warren Place over it. The court case in this incident was about Henry refusing to pay Fallon the money due to him in his contract. Again, Fallon won his case.
Then there was the ‘Panorama’ expose ‘The Corruption of Racing’, in which they chose to drag Fallon into. That, eventually, linked into the Ballinger Ridge incident at Lingfield, which ended up with Fallon being arrested along with a whole batch of other jockeys and racing people, which ended at the Old Bailey with Fallon being found not guilty.
It is no wonder, when he admitted to himself that he was drinking too much, he voluntarily admitted himself into the care the Aiseiri, Gaelic for resurrection, an addiction centre run by a nun, for a month, to repair the damage done to his soul.
Oh, before all of the wrangles with the law, he pulled Stuart Webster off his horse at the end of the race to ensure he got a bit of justice for what he deemed dangerous riding. And during the law wrangle years, he suffered what should have been a career-ending fall at Royal Ascot, the piecing back together of the severed nerves in his shoulder considered pioneering and remains in the British Journal of Sports Medicine to this day – Rupture of the axillary (circumflex) nerve and artery in a champion jockey
Yet through all the turmoil, Fallon won Derbies, classics and major races for all the top trainers, Henry Cecil, Michael Stoute and Aidan O’Brien amongst them and was champion jockey five-times. Aidan described him as the greatest rider employed by Coolmore.
Another achievement that Fallon should be recognised for is his autobiography ‘Form’, the best, in my opinion, of its kind by a flat jockey sitting presently on my bookshelves. (The jockey, I should explain, is not sitting on my bookshelf but the book. Yes, poor sentence construction.) Indeed; one of the best racing autobiographies full stop. I urge anyone yet to read it to remedy the omission in double-quick time.
Fallon, the jockey, was pretty useless with people. I am sure he would not argue against such an assertion. He is not alone in being socially awkward. I, too, have the same disability. Yet, surprisingly for someone who was not raised in an equine environment, was, and I dare say remains, happiest around horses. If you want to know the real Kieran Fallon, look to the back cover of his book and the photograph that exemplifies the bond, the rapport, between jockey and horse. Winning was not about him but about them. Or the quote on the same page ‘When I am on a horse, I am happy. I am where I want to be.’ Or the last line of his acknowledgements. And, finally, my heartfelt thanks to each and every horse I’ve ridden. Without those horses, where would I be.
I doubt very much if Fallon was born to be a saint. Very few amongst us are. But after reading both his autobiography and Andrew Longmore’s biography of him, I am of the opinion that more people owe him an apology than he owes anyone. And to intertwine his life as a jockey to a topic of the here and now, the strain inflicted on jockeys by a system that encourages them to drive helter-skelter between two meetings in a day goes a long way to explaining any mental health, drug or alcohol issues to afflict them during their careers. The one-meeting a day rule for jockeys must from now on become sacrosanct. It also allows all jockeys the opportunity to earn a half-decent living from the sport. I am sure Fallon would have made different decisions and reacted in a calmer fashion to the trials and tribulations of his life if it was not expected of him to ride both in the afternoon and evening. No other sportsman would be asked to entertain such a fatiguing regime.
Today, he is undoubtedly the most experienced work-rider in the country and mentor to his son, who surprisingly, if given time to develop his skills, might yet become his proudest achievement in a career of achievement.
Oh, if you read this, Kieran, and you find something you think you have need to consult a solicitor over, remember, I have no money, no reputation worth defending and I write in praise of you the man and your autobiography.