Kieron Fallon Deliberately Lost Races

Champion jockey Kieren Fallon deliberately lost races in a £2million betting scam that undermined the integrity of the entire sport, the Old Bailey has heard.

Fallon and two other jockeys agreed to “throw” a total of 27 races in a conspiracy with professional gambler Miles Rodgers and two others, it was claimed.

Rodgers bet a total of £2.12million on the horses losing, using pseudonyms on the internet gaming site Betfair, the jury was told.

Other shadowy conspirators in Spain, unknown to the police, were also involved, it was suggested.

Fallon faced threats from coconspirators when he won five of the 17 races he is charged over, it was claimed, allegedly costing the illegal syndicate £338,000.

One of these winners was Daring Aim, owned by the Queen, at Newmarket in July 2004.

After suggestions that the conspirators were “were going to go and see” Fallon, he allegedly agreed to lose more races to recoup the losses.

The scam was busted after a police investigation involving bugging devices and racing experts analysing the jockeys’ behaviour to prove they lost races deliberately.

Fallon, 42, who has been Britain’s champion jockey six times, rode Dylan Thomas to victory in the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe race in Paris on Sunday, but he and his fellow defendants could now face jail.

Prosecutor Jonathan Caplan QC said that the serious allegation of fraud “obviously undermines the integrity of the sport”.

He said the six defendants conspired to fix the results of 27 races at various racecourses between December 2002 and August

“They did not fix races to ensure a particular horse won,” he said.

“On the contrary, the object was to wager large amounts of money on a particular horse to lose - whilst knowing that the jockey was prepared, if necessary, to cheat by stopping the horse.”

The court heard a jockey could impede his horse by taking its hood off late and missing the start, “failing to ride vigorously”, or deliberately riding into “a wall of other horses”.

Fallon, of Tipperary in Ireland, and fellow jockeys Fergal Lynch, 29, of Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and Darren Williams, 29, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, deny fraud by interfering with the running of horses.

Also denying the charge are Rodgers, 38, from Silkstone, South Yorkshire, Lynch’s brother Shaun Lynch, 37, of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and barman Philip Sherkle, 42, of Tamworth, Staffordshire. Rodgers also denies concealing the proceeds of crime.

The court was told Fallon was a stable jockey for Sir Michael Stoute in Newmarket at the time of the conspiracy.

Mr Caplan said the plan was masterminded by Rodgers, originally a director of the Platinum Racing Club, which had 32 horses in training.

In April 2004, the Jockey Club declared him a “disqualified person” for two years, barring him from racing.

But the prosecution claims the betting scam continued unabated. Mr Caplan said Rodgers would make direct mobile phone contact with jockeys Lynch and Williams on race days.

The prosecutor went on: “Kieren Fallon was more cautious, and Rodgers had indirect contact with him, using as intermediaries Shaun Lynch, his brother Fergal Lynch, and Philip Sherkle.”

Once assured the jockeys would ‘throw’ their races, Rodgers would start betting.

“He would wager frequently more than £100,000 on a horse to lose - and if the horse lost he would win about £20,000,” said Mr Caplan.

“That indicated a knowledge about the outcome of the race that was not shared by the rest of the market.”

Rodgers’ bets usually amounted to more than half the total staked on Betfair on the races concerned.

Mr Caplan said Williams lost four races to win the conspiracy £55,000.

Lynch successfully lost five races - but won the sixth, on Familiar Affair, allegedly because he was “playing” three races in a single day at Ripon in August 2004, and it was “too dangerous to stop all three”.

Police swooped after bugging Rodgers’ Mercedes, and the car park of the Tiamo Italian restaurant he owns in Penistone, near Sheffield.

Mr Caplan said Fallon denied any crime, saying he simply gave race tips to Sherkle thinking he was only betting “his own couple of quid” on them.

The case continues.