Prodigal’s return

Oh, how we love a prodigal who makes it. And oh how quickly we will dismiss those who remain on the wastrel path. A year ago this week, Kieren Fallon, the six times Champion jockey and winner of 15 Classics, started riding again in Britain for the first time since 2006. After the long absence from British racecourses, occasioned by two positive drug tests and earlier race-fixing charges which were dismissed in court, the Jeremiahs had a field day. Typical was the prediction: ‘By the time his suspension expires in the summer of 2009 he will be yesterday’s man’ and the headline: ‘Fallon: no way back for the finest talent of his generation.’

Some would rather he had stayed in obscurity. Others of us wanted to see him back in the saddle partly because we felt that Fallon, blessed with such prodigious talent, owed the racing community, although I guess we all felt nervous that he might still attract headlines for the wrong reasons. He has been in more scrapes than a potato peeler and he himself admits that he has a knack for walking into a room of 50 people and within ten minutes finding himself talking to the dodgiest character present.

Ironically, the jockey who is famous for making up horses’ minds for them has been plagued all his life by the self-doubts of those given no educational opportunities. While he insisted he would be coming back happier and fitter, Fallon himself wondered, ‘Will I still be able to see the board, like a good chess player?’ It has taken a little longer than expected to answer that question. Kieren is not yet vying again for the jockey’s championship, having to settle currently for fifth place, with some top owners and trainers still reluctant to use him.