Racing:Kieren Fallon feels his classy 254-1 treble at Folkestone this afternoon has provided the rider with a much-needed shot of confidence. Despite his much-publicised comeback on Friday, it had not been plain-sailing for the six-times British champion jockey.
Indeed, it took him 13 attempts before hitting the target when Our Kes struck at Wolverhampton on Saturday night. On this evidence, however, Fallon is now clearly back in the groove.
Significantly, his three winners were achieved for Luca Cumani, who has consistently stated he will use Fallon whenever possible.
Fallon said: “It was brilliant. I knew that I had some decent rides and I knew the two-year-old (Diam Queen) wasn’t too bad. I liked the last ride (Ordoney) in the mile-and-a-quarter race — he is a nice horse.
“It just builds up your confidence, days like this. And when you have confidence, and have good rides and good stables to ride for, then things happen for you.
“You can see where I started in the first couple of days, and I obviously didn’t have that confidence as I hadn’t been riding. So it was important to have a day like today, especially with the week I have coming up.”
Fallon started off by winning on Diam Queen (9-1) in the ladbrokescasino.com Median Auction Maiden Stakes. Despite not being too hard on the filly, the jockey always looked likely to claim the spoils as they won by half a length.
Only 30 minutes later he was back in the winner’s enclosure, having made all of the running on Sham Sheer (15-2) in the Watch Live Sport At ladbrokes.com Handicap.
He was narrowly denied in the next when Magical Speedfit got beaten by a head, but Ordoney made it a three-timer when the 2-1 favourite beat Mick’s Dancer by half a length in the Best Odds Guaranteed At ladbrokes.com Handicap.
Fallon added: “I have some nice rides tomorrow at Goodwood and hopefully we can win. But Doncaster looks really good to me, I have really good rides every day.”
Commenting on his association with Cumani, he said: “We have an important week this week with Seta and Fantasia. They are two nice fillies. Luca has some nice horses.”
The 44-year-old rider has been absent from British racecourses since July 2006 due to a combination of the Old Bailey trial into alleged race-fixing, which ended in the judge ruling there was no case to answer, and an 18-month drugs suspension imposed by French authorities.
Cumani was quick to praise Fallon’s undisputed mastery in the saddle.
He said: “I’m delighted with that. Kieren gave all three of them wonderful rides and I’m really pleased to be able to welcome him back. He had ridden a couple of them before at home.”
Of the possibility of Cambridgeshire entry Ordoney forming part of his team for the Newmarket handicap, Cumani added: “It’s a long way to go before then.”