Words, dear reader.
The kind of words one might use when describing the defective detective work that led to the Fallon et al vs. Regina case, which was finally cringeingly dismissed yesterday, BEFORE the defence got to commence their response to the prosecution. The judge informed the jury that there was patently no case to answer.
In a case that cost you and me, as UK taxpayers, over £6m (before countersues are launched by Fallon’s brief, and those of his co-defendants), it is just preposterous to consider the flimsy ‘evidence’ that brought this trial to a courtroom.
Consider the case for the prosecution (and, please, try not to snigger too loudly at the back):
- Fallon is alleged to have thrown 17 races. (During this period, he actually won at a higher strike rate than he did during the rest of that season, a season which saw him crowned champion jockey!)
- During the races in question, Fallon actually lost co-defendants over £100,000 who were stupid enough to bet against probably the owner flat rider of our generation to have a hunger that compares with the legendary Lester Piggott.
- Fallon sent texts to co-defendants sharing his thoughts on the chances of his mounts. Lets face it, folks, if you had a mate who was a jockey - a champ at that - would you or would you not ask him for his thoughts on the day’s sport?! (To contextualise this, Fallon also received texts on a very frequent basis from one Michael Owen, BUPA Gold Card carrier and occasional footballer for Newcastle and England).
In what amounts to a constructive ‘framing’ in my opinion, the testimony of Jim McGrath, Channel 4’s leading commentator, and chief form analyst at Timeform, the UK’s number one formbook, was conveniently omitted from the record, in favour of a stipendiary steward from Australia, a nation with very different rules of racing to UK.
Indeed, Ray Murrihy (the aforementioned steward, and a man who now has about the same credibility in this country as the lamentably laughable Jane Stickels), admitted to knowing nothing of the rules of UK racing and, furthermore, stated that it was irrelevant to his judgment of the rides in the context of the case. Two words spring to mind: buff and oon.
For the City of London Police to dismiss McGrath’s evidence in favour of Murrihy’s is the criminal investigation equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears and saying, “ner ner ner, I’m not listening”.
I mean, can they really have expected - in a courtroom, with some of the leading barristers in the country baying for blood - that these small question marks (ahem) in the case wouldn’t be discussed…?!
I put it to you, my long suffering fellow punters, that the real victims in this case are us, the bookies’ fodder. For seventeen long dark months we have had to look at the jockeys in a race and not see the name, K Fallon, assure us that if the animal he’s stirruped up on is even nearly good enough to win, this man will dismount inside the final furlong, sling the said nag over his shoulder, and carry the fecker home in front if needs be!
And, moreover, I put it to you that the criminals in this case are both City of London Police and the British Horseracing Authority: the former for blatantly trying to create a case to justify their high profile ’swoops’ on one of the country’s leading sportsmen (and a number of other innocent individuals), and the latter for totally incriminating themselves by offering the leading investigator, Acting Detective Inspector Mark Manning (he sure was acting!), a job on two separate occasions.
Not only has Manning proved he is a pathetic policeman, but he’s also admitted under oath that he knows next to nothing about horse racing. How the hell is this man qualified to even deliver the post to the BHA? (with apologies to any friends from Royal Mail who may be reading).
In summary, it will be most instructive to learn how Fallon et al respond to what has been a year and half’s worth of loss of earnings, huge character defamation, and an indelible tarring with the brush of suspicion. I suspect we may not have heard the last of this…
Matt
December 11th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Hi Matt,
Absolutely.
This was a witch hunt, with no real evidence whatsoever.
However, Fallon has never been a "good boy" in racing circles and I'm quite sure in the years prior to him becoming champion he WAS probably guilty of 'some' of the crimes he was accused of.
His latest "cocaine shame" will probably do him in for good, I suspect. He comes across as a guy who enjoys a party (thinking back to his rehab episodes in the past), as am I, but there is no getting away from the fact that he is a world class jockey who - these days at least - will try to win at all costs.
I like him, I like his style and I love his competitiveness. He's a true champion who with the right opportunities could be even greater than Piggot.
It's a shame that his "demons", if you want to call them that, keep dragging him down.
I'd have a pint with him any day