At various points in his career, Kieren Fallon was stable jockey to three of the most successful trainers in the history of British racing, namely Sir Henry Cecil, Sir Michael Stoute and Aidan O’Brien. He rode a total of over 2,500 winners, including 16 Classic winners, and won the jockeys’ title six times, in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003.
However, his career was blighted by a succession of disciplinary setbacks, including repeated, lengthy bans for failed drug tests and prosecution – albeit without a conviction – for race fixing. Fallon retired in July, 2016, with Dr. Adrian McGoldrick, Chief Medical Officer to the Irish Turf Club, citing ‘severe depression’ as the principal reason for his doing so. Dr. McGoldrick added, ‘It’s an awful reflection on my own profession that it hasn’t been picked up sooner. He’s gone through three different doctors and the symptoms were never picked up.’
The incident in which Fallon pulled a fellow jockey from his horse occurred at Beverley on September 14, 1994. In the John Mangles Memorial Handicap, over an extended mile, Fallon rode Gymcrack Flyer, who weakened inside the final furlong to finish unplaced behind the winning favourite, Sailormate, who was completing a hat-trick. However, Fallon took exception to the winning jockey, Stuart Webster, grabbed him and dragged him from the saddle as he was pulling up. The pair subsequently emerged, bruised and bloody, from the weighing room to face the local stewards, who referred the original incident to Portman Square.
On June 2, 1994, Fallon had beaten Sailormate on Heart Broken, trained by Jimmy Fitzgerald, over six furlongs at Southwell, only to be disqualified and placed last after a stewards’ enquiry and an objection by the rider of the second, namely Webster. In any event, the Jockey Club took a dim view of his actions and banned him for six months for violent and improper conduct.