Fallon free to race next year

Racing : Kieren Fallon looks set to return to the saddle in September 2009 after the British Horseracing Authority announced…

Racing: Kieren Fallon looks set to return to the saddle in September 2009 after the British Horseracing Authority announced it had concluded its investigation into laying activity on 27 races which took place in 2003 and 2004.

The six-times champion jockey will also not face any further action from the British Horseracing Authority in relation to last year's Old Bailey trial, which ended in Fallon and five others being found not guilty of all charges.

Fallon is currently serving a worldwide suspension having tested positive for cocaine in France, but it is anticipated that he will be back in saddle when that ban ceases in 10 months' time.

In a statement the BHA said Fallon "accepted that his attitude to inside information has in the past been reckless conceding that he has been too free with such information and careless about whom he passed it to".

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It added that Fallon has also committed "to accept a rigorous regime to ensure he is and remains both drug free, and compliant with Rules of Racing regarding the use of inside information".

The authority also noted that any penalty from the Bennett investigation would be unlikely to extend Fallon's current suspension, and that he was also banned between July 2006 and December 2007 in relation to the collapsed Old Bailey investigation.

Fallon, who is currently in the United States, will have to appear before a licensing panel of the BHA before resuming his right to ride.

The announcement was made as the governing body concluded their investigation into the laying activity of 27 races in 2003 and 2004 by Mark, Bruce and Lloyd Bennett, which also included fellow riders Dean Mernagh and the recently disqualified Dean McKeown.

McKeown is currently a disqualified person until November 2012 from a separate case although he is appealing against that penalty, while Mernagh is currently unlicensed and would have to appear before the licensing committee to satisfy them about his suitability to be involved in the sport, and his alleged involvement with the Bennetts will remain on file.

As far as Fallon's alleged involvement with the Bennetts and other non-licensed individuals - against whom exclusion proceedings are under way - the BHA made clear that the rider was not accused of racing-fixing or "stopping" horses.

The BHA concluded on the Bennett case that "in the light of particular circumstances relating to each jockey (Fallon, Mernagh and McKeown), including that none of them is currently licensed to participate in the sport, that the interests of racing would not be best served by the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against them.

"Each of the jockeys would have to apply to the Authority if and when they wish to be relicensed."

In respect of last year's City Of London Police investigation that resulted in a near three-month sitting at the Old Bailey, the BHA continue to work towards bringing their investigations to a conclusion.

Fergal Lynch, who is now based in America, Miles Rodgers and Darren Williams could face charges in relation to evidence obtained from the Crown Prosecution Service, but Fallon will be unaffected.

BHA public relations manager Paul Struthers said: "This investigation first commenced in March 2004, when the activities of certain Betfair account holders were brought to our attention by Betfair.

"These enquiries were suspended following a request from the City of London Police, in June 2004, that the Authority should not pursue any lines of inquiry regarding any individual connected to the Police's own investigations.

"Only at the conclusion of the trial in December 2007 was the Authority able to reopen its enquiries. These were well advanced ahead of the Panorama programme broadcast at the end of July 2008 in which a number of issues were raised.

"Bearing in mind that these enquiries were also in relation to Dean McKeown, on legal advice the Authority was unable to bring the investigation to a conclusion until the end of the recent corruption hearing involving Dean McKeown.

"Progress with regard to matters specifically related to the criminal trial has been slower than we would have wanted, due in main to the well documented and frustrating lack of co-operation we have had from the CPS.

"These matters are ongoing and we will decide what actions are to be taken and what charges are to be laid against Miles Rodgers, Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams in the next couple of months.

"Kieren Fallon will not face any charges in relation to matters directly related to the trial."