The Big Interview with Kieren Fallon

FINDING ten minutes with Kieren Fallon is easier said than done. As the rider’s renaissance continues, a career again on an upward spiral after it was nearly destroyed by a two-year-ban, his is a life of competing demands.

During our brief telephone interview, the six-time former champion jockey is repeatedly interrupted – first to watch a race finish and then by friends looking to arrange some evening entertainment. But while some say distractions have haunted him away from the racetrack throughout his exceptional career, in the saddle Fallon has always been fully focused.

Hot on the heels of Paul Hanagan and Silvestre de Sousa for the jockeys’ championship, Fallon fired in a four-timer at Newmarket over the weekend to give his two northern rivals the clearest hint that he isn’t going to go away.

At York’s Ebor Festival this week, he has a number of plum rides to look forward to – most notably Sheriff Hutton trainer Mick Easterby’s Hoof It in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes, and the leading Ebor Handicap fancy Saptapadi for Norton’s Brian Ellison.

The latter employed his services certain in the belief that Fallon was “hungry” and determined to succeed. It could be a big week for the Irishman.

Fallon may now live in Newmarket but he spent nearly a decade in North Yorkshire, first in Ryedale with the late Jimmy FitzGerald and then in Thirsk with Jack and Lynda Ramsden.

It was here in the county where his formative years in the saddle were spent, and where he honed the skills that made him the sport’s dominant rider in the late 1990s and the early years of the new century.

“I love going to York,” he said. “It is an amazing track. I wish I was back up there again. I can’t wait for the week to begin. All the York Ebor races are great races whether it is the Gimcrack or the Juddmonte, it’s always exciting.

“Yorkshire is a beautiful place and it’s like home for me. It always feels like going home. I’ve been very lucky in the Ebor (Festival) over the years.”

You can say that again.

Four times the Yorkshire Oaks has come his way – most notably with the back to back winner Islington. Two Gimcrack Stakes also adorn the trophy cabinet and, in 1998, Fallon won the Ebor with Tuning, the Yorkshire Oaks with Catchascatchcan and the Gimcrack with Josr Algarhoud. That was a “great day”. But his favourite race might be a surprise to some.

“The Acomb Stakes is a race I really like,” he added. “King’s Best, ridden by Gary Stevens, beat me one year when I was on Shamrock City and I think it is a great race. I won it last year (with Waiter’s Dream) but the whole week is exciting. Even if it is only a small race I really enjoy winning there at York.”

Missing from the collection is the Nunthorpe Stakes and Fallon might never get a better chance to scratch the itch than with Hoof It. Mick Easterby’s four-year-old has always been considered a Group horse masquerading as a handicapper and, on Friday, he’ll get the chance in the highest company to build on his superb two-and-a-half length Stewards’ Cup demolition at Glorious Goodwood.

“I got on at the right time,” Fallon admits of his association with the sprinter, part-owned by top golfer Lee Westwood and his manager Chubby Chandler. “He ran like a Group 1 horse at Goodwood – at least, the times suggest he did. It was the fastest time ever recorded in a Stewards’ Cup and he was carrying a lot more weight than anything else. It doesn’t always work out but everything points in the direction (of him being a Group 1 contender). He’s got incredible acceleration and he travels well for a big, giant horse. He’s got everything you need.

“After his performance at Goodwood where else do you go? You have to try him. It would be a great thrill for me to win this for Mick Easterby and for Chubby and Lee, as well. However, it would be a great thrill for me to do it for Mick more so than anybody else – he is one of the true characters left.”

If Hoof It was about the right place at the right time, then Saptapadi was about dogged persistence. Having watched Ellison’s Ebor horse finish a couple of lengths behind Twice Over at the Sky Bet York Stakes last month, Fallon dogged the trainer and owner in a bid to secure the ride.

His pursuit was successful.

“He’s exciting,” he says of Saptapadi. “I’ve ridden the horse before – when he was at Michael Stoute’s I rode him a couple of times. I have always liked him and I was impressed with the way he ran behind Twice Over. That was over a mile and a quarter and he’s been unlucky a couple of times. Over a mile and six I think he’s got the ideal profile.

“You really need a Group horse in this handicap. There are plenty of dangers. It is always a really hard race to win and there are a lot of Group 1 contenders in it.

“It would be a fantastic week if Saptapadi and Hoof It could both win.”

Jimmy FitzGerald’s Norton yard was Fallon’s first port of call when he arrived from Ireland in the late 80s. There he found a hard task master and learned many lessons.

“I learned not to get big-headed and to appreciate what you have and what you’ve got and know that you’ve got to work hard for it,” he said.

“Nothing comes easy and Jimmy always kept your feet on the ground. I remember riding at Epsom and Ascot and I thought I had arrived. He let you know that you hadn’t arrived.”

But focus shifts quickly.

As soon as York comes to an end, Fallon’s gaze turns to Hanagan and de Sousa. He’s the first to admit there is a mountain to climb.

“It’s going to be hard to beat Paul. He’s a great rider and a great tactician. Richard Fahey’s horses are in great form but, put it this way, I won’t give it to him. He’s going to have to work for it.”