Top racing steward questions why winning Fallon lost race

AUSTRALIA’s chief racing steward told the Old Bailey yesterday he could not understand why six-times champion jockey Kieren Fallon lost a race that he had been winning.

Ray Murrihy said he had viewed film of the controversial race in which Ballinger Ridge lost after having a huge lead.

He said there was no reason why Fallon, who had a “commanding lead” with only a furlong to go, had slowed down and “given an easy passage” to the horse that overtook him.

Mr Murrihy added: “I am in no doubt he should have won. It was a quite extraordinary ride.”

The horse slowed “dramatically” and lost momentum after Fallon appeared to drop his hands.

“I do not think I have seen in my experience a horse ease down in that part of the race and it undoubtedly cost him the win.”

The top steward has been called as a prosecution witness in the £2 million (€2.86m) racing-fixing trial.

Fallon said he was giving the horse a “breather” not realising how close the other horses were during the Lingfield race in 2004.

But the prosecution alleges he allowed the horse to slow down because he was involved in the plot with two other jockeys to let horses lose so a crooked betting syndicate could win money.

With 37 years’ experience, Mr Murrihy has been asked to give an independent opinion on races said to be involved in a betting scam.

Mr Murrihy said he “had concerns” about 13 out of 27 races he had been asked to view by City of London Police.

He said he would have called a stewards’ inquiry in each case and asked the jockey and trainer to explain.

He said Legal Set, ridden by Darren Williams at Lingfield in 2002, had come third after it failed to take advantage of a gap in the field.

“He elected to stay behind the wall of horses,” said Mr Murrihy.

CD Europe, ridden by Fergal Lynch at Southwell in 2003, lost after a “stark ride devoid of vigour”, said Mr Murrihy.

“At no point do I see Fergal Lynch ask this horse to extend itself to its fullest,” he said.

Jockeys Kieren Fallon, 42, formerly of Cambridgeshire, but now of Tipperary; Fergal Lynch, 29, of Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire; and Darren Williams, 29, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, deny the conspiracy between December 2002 and August 2004.

Shaun Lynch, 38, of Belfast; Miles Rodgers, 38, of South Yorkshire; and Philip Sherkle, 42, of Staffordshire; also plead not guilty.