Horse Racing: Fallon Ride Hinges on Decision

Kieren Fallon, successful on Oratorio in last year's Coral-Eclipse Stakes, has been declared to ride Aussie Rules for the Aidan O'Brien stable in tomorrow's feature race at Sandown, but his appearance hinges on a decision made by a panel of the Horseracing Regulatory Authority which convenes in London this morning.

Fallon, along with fellow jockeys Darren Williams and Fergal Lynch, were charged on Monday with conspiracy to defraud by the City of London police following a long-running investigation into alleged corruption in horseracing. The HRA panel will decide whether the three jockeys can continue to ride in Britain pending their cases coming to trial.

"All jockeys will be legally represented and in attendance," said Paul Struthers, PR manager for the HRA, yesterday. "We envisage the hearings will last into the afternoon. Clearly, the nature of the representations may mean they could run into an additional day, although we are hopeful this will not be the case."

Neither Williams nor Lynch can be declared for rides tomorrow, as they are currently not licensed. But Fallon rides under an Irish jockeys' licence, and the Turf Club there have already stated that the six-times champion jockey can continue to ride in Ireland. "At the moment Fallon is not prevented from riding here," said Struthers. "But the panel can impose a restriction."

On Tuesday, the HRA panel, chaired as today by Sir Michael Connell, a former high court judge, ruled that the trainer Alan Berry, who was also charged as part of the police investigation, should be allowed to continue his career. "It would be at least eight months before the trial takes place," said Connell. "This is a very long time over which to suspend a licence and to deprive a man of his livelihood."

For Kieren Fallon's agent, David Pollington, it was business as usual yesterday. "I'll kick on and hopefully everything will work out," he said. "Kieren is on Aussie Rules and I hope to nab some other rides at Sandown for him."

In a disciplinary hearing yesterday, separate from the police investigation, a panel of the HRA declared Ajaz Khan a disqualified person for three years. Khan, a former racehorse owner and professional punter who runs a tipping service, has seven days to lodge an appeal.

Khan, who did not attend the hearing, failed to produce telephone records in compliance with an order issued by the security department of the HRA. He was found to be in breach of rule 241 (i) (a) of the rules of racing in refusing information believed relevant to an investigation.

Struthers would not comment on speculation that Khan's telephone records were linked to licensed individuals, including jockeys, but said that the case was part of an ongoing investigation by the security department. "Mr Khan has seven days to appeal. Once that is up, it will become an offence for any licensed person to associate with him," said Struthers. "If there is any evidence of this, it will be dealt with in a severe manner."