3/9/2004

Fallon Folly

They say that ‘loose lips sink ships’, but the same could very well now be said for jockeys, too. As the 21-day suspension of England’s flamboyant champion jockey, for easing up Ballinger Ridge and getting caught at the wire last week at Lingfield Park, may just be the tip of the rather insidious iceberg that is currently threatening to scandalize the British turf.

For Fallon, who has always sailed pretty close to the wind during his meteoric career and once ended up being dumped naked on some remote moorland in Scotland by disgruntled gambler/bookmaker-types, after a less than satisfactory result (for the bookies) at a Hamilton meeting, apparently tipped off undercover journalists from the News of the World, prior to the race, that Ballinger Ridge would be beaten by the favorite, Rye, who was the horse that ended up pipping him on the post.

Now, if this is proven to be true, and the NofTW guys apparently have the goods, this could mean a very lengthy period ‘a pied’ for the mercurial Irishman, because, in the wake of last fall’s BBC Panorama programs, about alleged corruption within horse racing, this latest incident (and apparently many others, too) need to be dealt with severely, if the public’s confidence in the integrity of the so-called Sport of Kings is to be maintained. So says John Mutton-Chops McRirick, of ITV’s Channel 4, anyway.

Whatever….it will all come out in the washing, as they say. And at this stage it would be foolhardy to condemn Fallon, before all the facts are known. But make no mistake…..this smells very fishy. And, whatever the outcome, the affair is very bad news for horse racing.

Footnote…..in the wake of the Fallon case, calls are already being made by licensed bookmakers to outlaw ‘Betting Exchanges’ that offer punters the chance to lay horses to lose. So, if it turns out that the leading rider is involved in such activity, this will probably mean that that element may be made illegal.

But, in today’s Cyber-World, there will always be someone, somewhere (operating out of a telephone box in outer-Mongolia), who will find a way to offer the service……to make a few bucks…..legally or illegally.

Stay tuned…..