Fallon gunning for 2011 Flat Jockeys’ Championship
Kieren Fallon told Racing UK on Wednesday evening how he will be hungrier than any other jockey in his pursuit of the 2011 Flat Jockeys’ Championship.
Fallon rode 140 winners last season, principally for Luca Cumani, but also the likes of Mark Johnston, Mick Channon, Brian Meehan, Ed Dunlop and Sir Michael Stoute.
Fallon, speaking from the UAE where he is based for the 2011 Dubai International Racing Carnival, told Racing UK: “I had to change my agent a couple of months into the season as he didn’t want to continue, and things didn’t really work out for me as I’d hoped.
“But I still rode 140 winners and finished the season well. Since Mark (Johnston) and Sir Michael starting putting me up, it really built up my confidence.
“This year I’ll be really hungry, probably more so than any other jockey and I’m going to be working really hard.
“With Luca having a strong team of horses, and if Mark continues to use me, then I’ve got every chance of being be up at the top when it matters.”
Fallon has the form to win a championship, having won the title six times previously, and knows how much it can take out of a jockey, pointing towards the titanic struggle between Paul Hanagan and Richard Hughes last year.
“I’m done it many times before and know what it takes and how to pace myself,” he continued. “Richard didn’t know he was in the championship until after Royal Ascot. I talked to him in the weighing room at Ascot when he was 28-1 for the title and I said to him, ‘Richard you’ve got a chance here.’
“He did take some days off and then all of a sudden he went for it - but if you’re going for the championship you can’t afford to take one day off.
“In the end he just killed himself, taking in all the night meetings and going for 10 to 12 rides a day.
“He’s tough but after having thrown so much at it, has he got anything left? Hopefully he won’t, and there will be only one or two guys to go after, rather than three or four!”
Fallon has ridden five winners so far this UAE season, and has singled out Marinous, winner of the Grand Prix De Deauville and sixth behind Workforce in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe as his big hope on Dubai World Cup night on March 26 for owner Saeed Nasser Al Romaithi.
“He is the one I am really looking forward to and we are hoping he will make his mark in the Dubai Sheema Classic.”
Fallon also picked out the Cumani-trained Mabait, a Listed winner at Pontefract, as a horse who could oblige on the opening night of the Carnival on January 13.
“He’s a horse who’s done nothing but progress all year and just got better and better,” he explained.
“He’s been training well and looks good, and will be a very hard horse to beat if he acts on the Tapeta surface at the first meeting.”
