Fallon back on Thursday!
 

apparantly, he'll be riding in Tipperary.. He goes to court on Tuesday re: his ongoing trial.. Good to have him back..

YAY! Awesome news...thanks for the update, brockguy :).

Katy

Just to re phrase this...... as far as i'm aware..... he MIGHT be back on Thursday

But still...it's awesome news :).

Katy

It only means he will be able to ride in Ireland, not in England though and the hopes of him turning over the decision over here are slim to none, i'm afraid...... whether he is guillty or not, there is so much "evidence" racked up against him.

If he is warned off that is everything finished for him.

Well yeah, obviously, but stilllllllll, it just makes my day when he rides ANYWHERE. I don't know, my day is easily made :P.

The whole situation really is sad, though...I really hope that Fallon comes out on top, but like you said, the odds are completely and totally against him as far as that goes.

Katy

Great New! can't wait.

I just didn't want anyone to be getting too confident about him coming back, because even if he is allowed to ride from Thursday it will only be in Ireland, and even then, if the Court case goes against him in the summer he will never be abale to ride or work in racing anywhere in the world.

He is a fantastic jock, but he should have known better for getting involved in all of this in the first place.

yeah the 3rd page of the Irish Field today has it. This is what it says
"
Kieran Fallon is expected to return to race riding at Tipperary next week. The former champion is serving a six-month suspension for failing a drugs test but the ban ends on Wednesday. It is understood that Fallon has already been booked to ride at Tipperary.
It could be a very important week for Fallon as he is expected to appear in the Old Bailey on Tuesday at the start of a hearing in which his legal team attempts to strike out the case against him in the City of London Police race-fixing investigation. If successful, Fallon could be back riding in Britain in time for Royal Ascot. If not, he will remain prohibited from riding in the Uk until the case against him is heard, probably in the autumn. The Australian and American racing authorities have reciprocated the British ban, though Fallon is believed to have been riding trackwork recently in the US in preperation for his comeback"

He was silly to get involved in drugs, especially with all the other problems he is facing, it hardly helps him look like a 'straight' individual in court.

He will struggle to explain what he was doing on Ballinger Ridge all those years ago at Lingfield (sorry, i must have had Hexham on the brain.lol)

He is a brilliant jockey, the best i have witnessed but he has acted stupidly.

Mine too.

This is great news!

FREE FALLON. :D

yeah, I remember saying that he is one of the unluckiest men ever to be caught up in all the scandals he's had or they are more than just rumours.., The Ballinger Ridge affair looked awful to the casual viewer, but in fairness to him, he lost on a bobbing finish, yeah he should have won 10+lengths but with those low grade horses, trainers seem to hate when you win by large margins. The horse didnt want to quicken again..

And yeah, I fully agree re: drugs.. Its harder to sympathise with him when dabbling in that sort of stuff, no excuse for it whatsoever..

It was the big market drift in the morning on Ballinger Ridge, which is the worst part of it, giving the ride.

I couldn't think he would ever be involved in such antics, but...... the HRA would have to have solid evidence for them to go this far with it. Can you imagine how stupid they will look if Fallon wins? They won't want that.

As much as i'd love to see him win the trial, i just can't see it :( :(

the way I see it, it'll be difficult to prosecute him. they are very specific charges of attempting to defraud betfair customers I think. I can see Fallon with all of Coolmore's legal support getting the case thrown out at some stage. I cant see how the evidence can be so watertight that they are confident of a prosecution.

If any of the accounts they have that have made money by laying Fallon's mounts have ANY link whatsoever to him, that will be it.

Agreed, the coolmore legal team will make it difficult but i doubt the HRA would have gone this far without having significant evidence. You know how tight the BHB are :D

I have my fingers crossed that he is innocent, because not only will we have lost a great jockey, but also i will feel very annoyed because i really liked the guy. He rode a horse of my dad's first time out as a 2yo at Newmarket, he was a flying machine. Fallon said when he got on him "i doubt he will win today" which was very strange. He was beaten a short head when he had the race in the bag. I hope it wasn't a case of race fixing, but that will always be in the back of my mind.

Case heard today in the Old Bailey - the press are not allowed to report so it will be interesting all right to try and make sense of the situation.. It is supposed to last for 5 days so he'll most likely make his comeback at the evening meeting at the Curragh on Saturday..

I read somewhere today, that if the case wasn't closed today, that his lawyers had failed to have the case thrown out. Probably wrong though.

I'm no law expert, but i would have thought if someone was trying to get a case thrown out it would have been done quite quickly?

Good luck to him though. would be great to see him riding again soon

Well Fallon is pencilled in for 3 rides tomorrow at Tipp. Can't wait to see him back in action..

Ooooo, i only saw 2, must go back and look!!!! Yeah, was real good when i looked at the card....... so does this mean he is flying straight back from the court hearing and then going straight back to court the next morning, do you think?? It shows he is determined, anyway

he was down to ride 2 in one race for a while, thats how I mistakenly thought 3.. Hes not that good yet, so only 2 tomorrow..

I think Fallon would be more than capable :D

back with a winner. The Bogberry wins by a cheeky neck.

Yea! :cool:

What a ride that was. 6 lengths down with only a furlong to go. Most people would have given up. Fallon changed his hands, pulled his stick through, gave the colt one almighty crack behind the saddle and he ends up winning a neck pulling up.

Good to see the King back.

Ok, so yeah, that ride totally just made my day :). Glad to see him back, definately!

Katy

From the racingpost us Irish are great at cheering on one of our own:

KIEREN FALLON showed that a six-month absence from race-riding had not blunted his talent as he made a winning return to action at Tipperary on Thursday night.

A lone voice in the sunshine shouted: "You were never away, Kieren" as the Fallon roadshow resumed with victory on Royal Ascot-bound two-year-old The Bogberry.

The six-time British champion was most definitely away, banned from riding since December until Thursday after failing a drugs test in France.

But he wasted no time in showing that he was back.

A late surge saw the Ballydoyle juvenile, who started 4-7 favourite for the 7 1/2f juvenile maiden, score by a neck as Fallon, riding in his first race since finishing seventh on Yeats in the Melbourne Cup in November, made the perfect start to the latest chapter of his successful but controversial career.

O'Brien, who is aiming The Bogberry at the Chesham Stakes, summed up the occasion when saying: "It's great to have him back and he certainly hasn't lost it."

Last into the parade ring for thefirst race on the card, Fallon was cheered en route from the weigh room as he stopped to sign a few autographs. And it was more of the same when he returned to the number one spot.

"It's a great feeling to be back and having the public here behind youmakes the job that much easier," said Fallon who claimed that he was "very confident" of being able to ride in Britain again in the near future.

Fallon said: "Riding out four lots a day at Ballydoyle and going to Canada for a break and toride some track work at Woodbine helped keep me focused. I had a minor problem with a foot but it was nothing serious and I'm fine now.

"All along I've wanted to get back riding in England more than anything else and I'm hoping that will be possible. I should know after the weekend."

Fallon added: "As far as I'm concerned the season is really only starting. I missed not being able to ride at Epsom and it would be great to be able to ride at Ascot.

"I was impressed with Authorized but I would like to have been on Eagle Mountain and although he got shuffled back during the race I think I wouldn't have had to come from so far back if I was on him."

The attendance of just short of 3,000 was up about 800 on the corresponding meeting last year, according to racecourse manager Peter Roe.

He also rode a winner on his first ride back in France today, where the drugs ban was first enforced.

Great to see he hasn't lost any of his ability in the saddle

Ive heard the odd rumour or two that Fallon will hear that he'll be allowed to ride at Royal Ascot.. we'll find out the result of the case tomorrow. It'll be brilliant if that is the case, but they are only rumours at this point..

Really?

As you say, that would be brilliant if that is the case. Hopefully he will get to sit on You'resothrilling at Ascot if this is the case.

Doesn't look like he will be riding at Ascot. There is a bit about Mick Kinane looking like he will be riding all the Ballydoyle hopefuls at Royals Ascot

The Irish Times report that he will face trial and failed to have the charges dropped but havent seen it in any other news place..
Obviously the smart money was on Kinane to get all of the good Coolmore rides..

I briefly heard that on TV today, but didn't catch the whole story. But it looks like he will stand trial in September, still.

Free Fallon!

Sporting Life.....
(no author listed)

FALLON DENIES RACE FIXING ALLEGATION


Former champion jockey Kieren Fallon formally pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a charge of conspiracy to defraud in connection with an alleged plot to fix the results of races.

He and four other individuals, including fellow jockey Fergal Lynch, entered pleas of not guilty at a pre-trial hearing before Mr Justice Forbes, sitting in London.

Their Old Bailey trial has been previously fixed to begin on September 24.

Fallon, 42, Fergal Lynch, 29, along with Miles Rodgers, 38, Philip Sherkle, 42, and Shaun Lynch, 37, deny the allegations against them.

They are charged with conspiracy to defraud between December 2002 and September 2004, by interfering with the running of horses to ensure they lost races, defrauding punters with internet betting firm Betfair.

Rodgers, a former racing syndicate director, also pleaded not guilty to a charge of concealing the proceeds of crime.