Born in Crusheen, County Clare on February 22, 1965, Kieren Fallon retired from race riding, aged 51, in July suffering from what Dr. Adrian McGoldrick, chief medical officer for the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) described as “quite profound depression”. At the time of his retirement, Fallon had ridden 2,578 winners in Britain alone, including 16 British Classic winners, and won the Flat Jockeys’ Championship six times. At various points in his career, he had been stable jockey to Sir Henry Cecil, Sir Michael Stoute and Aidan O’Brien.
However, despite his success on the racecourse, Fallon was a rather divisive character, who courted controversy throughout his career. He rode his first winner on British soil, Evichstar, trained by the late Jimmy Fitzgerald, at Thirsk on April 16, 1988 and was a leading jockey in the North of England by the time of a well-publicised disciplinary incident at Beverley on September 14, 1994. After passing the post, Fallon dragged winning jockey Stuart Webster, from his mount, Sailormate, and was banned for six months for “violent and improper conduct”. In December 7, Fallon was acquitted, along with his co-defendants, of conspiracy to defraud Betfair at the Old Bailey, due to lack of evidence, but on January 25, 2008 received an 18-month ban after failing a drugs test, for the second time, at Deauville the previous August.
In happier times, Fallon became stable jockey to the late Sir Henry Cecil in Newmarket in 1997. He rode his first Classic winner, Sleepytime, trained by Cecil, in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 4, 1997 and went on to become champion jockey that year, with 202 winners, in 1998, with 204 winners and, again, in 1999, with 202 winners. Shortly after completing the Derby/Oaks double with Oath and Ramruna, Cecil and Fallon parted company but, notwithstanding a fall at Royal Ascot in 2000, which led to six months on the sidelines, Fallon continued to prosper. He was champion jockey again in 2001, 2002 and 2003.