Fallon slowed horse to lose
2007-10-09 15:45
London - Champion jockey Kieren Fallon appeared to almost stop riding his horse while leading by a huge margin as he approached the finish of a race, to let another rider win, a court heard Tuesday.
Fallon should have won "at a canter" at Lingfield racecourse in March 2004, prosecutor Jonathan Caplan said on the second day of a race-fixing trial at the Old Bailey in London.
A large amount of money had been put on Fallon's horse to lose, including 74 000 pounds by businessman Miles Rodgers, one of five other co-defendants in the trial centred on suspect races between 2002 and August 2004.
Caplan said that, with two furlongs to go, Fallon was five or six lengths in front on Ballinger Ridge. "But Fallon then dramatically slows his momentum to the point where he is doing virtually nothing.
"Prior to the one-furlong marker Fallon turns and looks back. The other runners are four to five lengths behind. Fallon eases the horse down, which would send the message to the horse that the race was over," he said.
As other riders gained on him Fallon did nothing, only trying "to get going again" half a furlong from the finish when another horse, Rye, was going past him, said the prosecutor.
Steadying his horse down
"By that time Ballinger Ridge has lost momentum. There is no legitimate reason that a jockey would need to be looking back and steadying his horse down with a furlong still to go.
"When you look at all the evidence in this case, you can be sure Mr Fallon wanted Rye to be the winner," he added.
Fallon, who won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Sunday, is accused with five others of conspiracy to defraud customers of online betting exchange Betfair by trying to cheat in 27 races to make horses lose.
The six defendants - including two fellow jockeys, Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams - deny being part of a race-fixing scam.
On the first day of the trial the court heard how Rodgers bet 2.12m pounds on various Internet accounts that 27 horses ridden by Fallon and the two other jockeys would lose.
Seventeen of them were ridden by Fallon.
- AFP