| Kieren Fallon | |
|---|---|
 Kieren Fallon on Start Right at Goodwood in 2010. | |
| Occupation | Jockey |
| Born | (1965-02-22)22 February 1965 (age 60) Crusheen,County Clare, Ireland |
| Career wins | 2253 wins |
| Major racing wins | |
| 2,000 Guineas Stakes (2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2014) 1,000 Guineas Stakes (1997, 1999, 2003, 2005) Epsom Derby (1999, 2003, 2004) Epsom Oaks (1997, 1999, 2004, 2006) Arlington Million (2005) | |
| Racing awards | |
| British flat racing Champion Jockey 6 times (1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003) | |
| Significant horses | |
| Golan | |
| 1000 Guineas (4) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | ||
 |  |  |
| Sleepytime | Oh Nellie | Dazzle |
| 1999 | ||
 |  |  |
| Wince | Wannabe Grand | Valentine Waltz |
| 2003 | ||
|  | |
| Russian Rhythm | Six Perfections | Intercontinental |
| 2005 | ||
 |  |  |
| Virginia Waters | Maids Causeway | Vista Bella |
| 2000 Guineas (5) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | ||
 | |  |
| King's Best | Giant's Causeway | Barathea Guest |
| 2001 | ||
 |  |  |
| Golan | Tamburlaine | Frenchmans Bay |
| 2005 | ||
|  |  |
| Footstepsinthesand | Rebel Rebel | Kandidate |
| 2006 | ||
|  |  |
| George Washington | Sir Percy | Olympian Odyssey |
| 2014 | ||
 | |  |
| Night Of Thunder | Kingman | Australia |
| Derby (3) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | ||
 |  | |
| Oath | Daliapour | Beat All |
| 2003 | ||
| | |
| Kris Kin | The Great Gatsby | Alamshar |
| 2004 | ||
|  |  |
| North Light | Rule of Law | Let The Lion Roar |
| Oaks (4) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | ||
|  | |
| Reams of Verse | Gazelle Royale | Crown of Light |
| 1999 | ||
 |  | |
| Ramruma | Noushkey | Zahrat Dubai |
| 2004 | ||
 | | |
| Ouija Board | All Too Beautiful | Punctilious |
| 2006 | ||
|  |  |
| Alexandrova | Rising Cross | Short Skirt |
| Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (2) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | ||
|  | |
| Hurricane Run | Westerner | Bago |
| 2007 | ||
|  | |
| Dylan Thomas | Youmzain | Sagara |
Kieren Francis Fallon (born 22 February 1965 inCrusheen,County Clare, Ireland) is a retired Irish professionalflat racing jockey and wasBritish Champion Jockey six times.
In 1997, Fallon became the stable jockey forHenry Cecil, one of Britain's leading trainers. In May 1997 he recorded his firstClassic win when taking the1000 Guineas on the Cecil-trained filly Sleepytime. Cecil called him "a very hard worker" and a "Group One Jockey" while Richard Edmondson, writing inThe Independent, praised Fallon's riding ability while pointing out his poor disciplinary record.[1] Both sides of Fallon's character were soon evident as he was given a ten-day ban for his riding in a race in Italy, which he successfully had postponed to ride inThe Oaks, which he won on Reams of Verse for Cecil.[2] Fallon ended the season with 202 wins and his first Champion Jockey title.
Fallon retained the Jockeys' Championship for the next two seasons, riding more than 200 winners on each occasion. In 1999 he won his firstDerby when he rode the Cecil-trainedOath to victory atEpsom and followed up by winning the Oaks onRamruma for the same stable. Less than two months later Fallon was dismissed as Cecil's stable jockey for reasons which were never fully explained.[3]
Following his dismissal, Fallon rode as a freelance jockey, riding for many top owners and trainers, before becoming stable jockey to the powerful stable ofMichael Stoute. During his time with Stoute, Fallon rode the winners of many important races including successive runnings of the2000 Guineas with King's Best andGolan. Between these two victories, Fallon lost his Champion Jockey title after a serious arm injury sustained in a fall in June 2000 at Royal Ascot[4] forced him to miss several months race-riding. The accident came shortly after a riding ban prevented him from riding in the Derby.
Fallon's post at the Stoute stable came to an end in November 2001, when Stoute announced that some of his main owners did not want to use Fallon as a jockey for their horses, making his position untenable.[5] Despite having no formal connection with the stable, Fallon continued to ride major winners for Stoute including the Derby winnersKris Kin in 2003 andNorth Light in 2004.
In the spring of 2004 theNews of the World newspaper made allegations of race fixing against Fallon. He was due to appear before theJockey Club later in the year to answer the allegations when on 1 September 2004, he was arrested as part of a police investigation into the alleged fixing of over 80 races in the previous two years. On 15 December 2004 the Jockey Club discontinued its investigation into the allegations.
On 3 July 2006, Fallon was charged along with seven other people for conspiring to defraud the Internet betting exchangeBetfair. Fallon was banned from riding in the UK until his trial was over, but was still able to race in the Republic of Ireland.[6]
On 8 October 2007, his trial on charges ofrace-fixing began at theOld Bailey court in London. During the trial, the jury heard that gangsterDaniel Kinahan had travelled to England to confront Fallon at his home after Fallon won races he had been instructed to lose, but turned back after realising he was under surveillance.[7] On 7 December 2007, the judge decided the defendants had no case to answer and he directed the jury to find Fallon and all his co-defendants not guilty because of lack of evidence.[8][9] His suspension from British racing was lifted with immediate effect.
In February 2005 Fallon accepted the post of first jockey to Aidan O'Brien's powerfulBallydoyle stable.[10] His new career began impressively, with a win onFootstepsinthesand in the2000 Guineas. By the end of the season he had recorded further important wins on horses such asYeats,George Washington and Oratorio. Fallon's 2006 ban from riding in England curtailed his opportunities, but more important wins followed for the Ballydoyle team, notably on the 2007European Horse of the YearDylan Thomas. Fallon's position with O'Brien ended with his 18-month worldwide ban imposed by the French racing authorities in January 2008.
On 29 November 2006 French racing authority France Galop suspended Fallon for six months after testing positive for ametabolite of a prohibited substance after riding at Chantilly on 9 July 2006. The ban ran from 7 December 2006 to 6 June 2007. On 8 December 2007, it came out that Fallon had tested positive again for a banned substance on 19 August 2007 atDeauville Racecourse in France.[11] On 25 January 2008 Fallon received an 18-month riding suspension for this offence. He resumed race riding atLingfield Park on 4 September 2009.[12]
The 2010 Flat racing season saw Kieren Fallon employed largely by trainersLuca Cumani,Mark Johnston and Kevin Ryan. Although major wins were less frequent, Fallon had success, riding 140 winners in 2010 and 154 in 2011. In the latter season he finished third in the Jockeys' championship behind Paul Hanagan.[13]
In 2014, Fallon rode to victory in the 2000 Guineas. Allowing Night of Thunder to drift across the track to the left having been on the right of the track, Fallon got up in the final strides to win the race and to take his first classic in 8 years.
Fallon has three children with his ex-wife Julie: Natalie Ann Fallon (b. 1994), and twins Brittany Michelle andCieren Richard Fallon (b. 1999). He also had a child with another woman while married to Julie. Until his death, Brittany Fallon was the girlfriend of Italian jockeyStefano Cherchi.[14] Cieren Fallon is also a jockey and won his first race atLeicester in 2018.[15] He won theBritish flat racing Champion Apprentice title in 2019[16] and won his firstGroup 1 race in July 2020 when he rode Oxted, trained by Roger Teal, to victory in theJuly Cup at Newmarket.[17]
As of 2010, Fallon writes a column in theRacing Post Weekender during the flat season.
In July 2016 Fallon announced that he had been diagnosed with depression and had decided to retire from racing.[18]
Fallon released his autobiographyForm in 2017, which was published bySimon & Schuster.[19]
* = Champion Jockey
Sources: jockeysroom.com (1991–2001), racingpost.co.uk (2002–present)
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Ballydoyle retained jockey 2005-2007 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
