Fallon 'driven by desire to win'
by Shenai Raif
THE suggestion that Kieren Fallon was deliberately trying to lose raceswas "simply ridiculous", a betting scam trial was told on Wednesday.
Fallon was six times champion jockey and a man "driven to win", said his barrister, John Kelsey-Fry QC.
Fallon listened a few feet away as Mr Kelsey-Fry told a jury at the Old Bailey: "He is a man driven by the desire to win."
Fallon and five others are accused of plotting to make 27 horses lose in order to win money on bets.
But the prosecution say he ended up owing the crooked betting syndicate money because he won five of his 17 races.
Mr Kelsey-Fry said: "The very fact that a man described as the greatest jockey of his generation ends up unable to help winning when he is trying to lose is simply ridiculous."
Fallon had, in fact, won more races - an average 29.4% - during the time of the alleged conspiracy, than the 19% he normally averaged.
Mr Kelsey-Fry said this meant Fallon's winning rate was higher "when he was trying to lose than when he was trying to win".
It alleged that the six defendants wereinvolved in a conspiracy with others between December 2002 and September 2004 to defraud Betfair customers and other punters.
Fallon, 42, formerly of Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, but now of Tipperary, Ireland, Fergal Lynch, 29, of Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and Darren Williams, 29, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, deny the charges.
Shaun Lynch, 37, of Belfast, former racing syndicate director Miles Rodgers, 38, of Silkstone, South Yorkshire, and Philip Sherkle, 42, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, alsoplead not guilty.
Rodgers also denies concealing the proceeds of crime. All the defendants are on bail.
The defendants in the case have been allowed to sit next to their lawyers in the well of the court during the rest of the trial.
Mr Kelsey-Fry was addressing the jury after the judge invited defence counsel to make a speech following the prosecution opening of the case.
Fallon and the two other jockeys, Fergal Lynch and Williams, are alleged to have passed on information to syndicate boss Rodgers that their rides would lose.
Fallon is alleged to have used intermediaries to pass on information but Mr Kelsey-Fry said he was only talking to friends about races.
He said: "Nothing wrong with that. If you're champion jockey six times, you will find, you readily accept, the whole world wanting to know your opinions about every horserace there is.
"You will hear evidence demonstrating that Mr Fallon was content to do so to any number of such people."
Mr Kelsey-Fry said Fallon had even been asked for his opinion in a BBC interview before he rode in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France at the weekend.
He won on Dylan Thomas but had fancied another horse, Soldier Of Fortune, because of the soft ground.
Mr Kelsey-Fry said the prosecution case showed "signs of desperation".
Earlier, Peter Kelson QC, for Rodgers, told the jurors that there were factors in the prosecution which would cause them anxiety.
The officer in charge of the inquiry, and who is soon to retire, had been offered a job with the Jockey Club which had originally called in police to make an independent investigation.
Mr Kelson said: "We submit that this matter goes to the root of impartiality in this matter."
He said Rodgers was a professional and prolific gambler who had not done anything illegal.
He had openly "boasted" of his contacts and made no secret of the fact that he relied on tips.
The trial was adjourned until Thursday.
