Fallon considering comeback venue

As the countdown begins in earnest to the return of Kieren Fallon, the six-times champion jockey is considering the options for the scene of his eagerly-awaited comeback ride.

Fallon’s well-publicised problems should be replaced by headlines of a much better kind on Friday week, the date he begins the latest phase of an eventful career following an 18-month suspension imposed by the French authorities after he tested positive for a prohibited substance.

Catterick, Chepstow, plus the all-weather meetings at Lingfield and in the evening at Kempton, provide the fare on September 4 before bigger fixtures – and rides – come thick and fast.

Fallon said: “Unfortunately the meetings that we have are not the ones I would have chosen myself, we might have to go to Wales (Chepstow) and I haven’t ridden on the all-weather at Kempton yet, so that will be an unknown.

“Catterick would really sharpen you up. I actually love riding around Catterick...You have to be on the ball.”

Fallon is anticipating some important engagements – almost as soon as the day he comes back to the saddle.

Mick Channon’s Youmzain, the horse he beat into second on Dylan Thomas when winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October 2007 – his last ride in public - could be one of them.

He went on: “That is another ambition – I want to win the Arc again if I can. I’ve had some offers, some good rides. Obviously it has been no secret about Youmzain, who has been placed twice. I have been asked if I could ride him (Baden-Baden in Germany on September 6 and then the Arc).”

He added: “I have felt completely better for a long time now. My body is stronger and better, physically and mentally. I feel I can ride again, I feel comfortable on a horse again.

“I have been riding out for Ed Dunlop, Sir Michael Stoute, Luca Cumani and Paul Howling.”

Cumani’s Bedford House yard houses current 1000 Guineas favourite Seta, who is due to reappear in the DFS May Hill Stakes on September 11 at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting.

As to whether he would be riding Seta, he said: “I have been riding her work and Luca has given me an indication that I could.”