Britain:The fact that Kieren Fallon's alleged race-fixing conspirators continued to forfeit hundreds of thousands of pounds by betting on him to lose, even though he kept winning, was "either the triumph of hope over experience or just too silly for words", the jockey's defence barrister told the race fixing trial yesterday.
Although the groundbreaking case had yet to start hearing evidence and witness testimony, counsel for the six defendants were yesterday invited by the judge to make opening remarks to the jury to counter the prosecution's own two-day opening statement.
Of the six defence teams in court only lawyers for Fallon (42), from Clare, and the alleged ring-leader of the so-called "bet to lose conspiracy" Miles Rodgers (38), from Barnsley, Yorkshire, took up the invitation.
Counsel for co-defendants Fergal Lynch (29), Boroughbridge, north Yorkshire, Shaun Lynch (37), Belfast, Darren Williams (29), Leyburn, north Yorkshire, and Philip Sherkle (42), Tamworth, Staffordshire, declined the invitation to address the jury. The trial judge warned the jury not read any adverse inference into their decision.
All are charged with conspiring to fix 27 races by making horses lose between 2002 and 2004 and defrauding customers of the betting exchange Betfair. Fallon rode in 17 of the races. Mr Rodgers is also accused of laundering the proceeds of crime.
Fallon's defence counsel John Kelsey-Fry QC - an enthusiastic racehorse owner - told the jury of seven women and five men the charges against his client were "absurd".
His client was driven to win and, as arguably the greatest jockey of his generation and the champion in Britain six times, people frequently sought tips and advice from him, he said.
Advice and opinions he freely gave and it was just such tips such as those given to his friends and co-accused Fergal and Shaun Lynch and to barman Philip Sherkle that had been passed on to syndicate leader Miles Rodgers, said Mr Kelsey-Fry.
These had been wrongfully and wilfully spun into a conspiracy by the prosecution, he said.
He said Fallon's success rate on horses between 2002 and 2004 was 19 per cent, but of the 17 races he is alleged to have conspired to lose, it rose to 24.9 per cent. "That means that if the Crown's allegation is right, that Fallon's win rate was 150 per cent higher when he was trying to lose than when he was trying to win," he said. "The very fact that a man described as the greatest jockey of his generation ends up unable to help winning when he is trying to lose is simply ridiculous," he said.
He singled out the acclaim for Fallon's win at Newmarket in July 2004 on a horse called Daring Aim, an animal he described as "a cussed, difficult, reluctant filly - with all due respect to the owner who happens to be her majesty the queen".
"If ever there was a horse which Kieren Fallon could have chosen to lose on, it was Daring Aim, and if ever there was a race which showed why he was a champion jockey, it was this one," he said.
If Fallon truly had conspired with the syndicate knowing they had placed more than £100,000 on the horse to lose, he would hardly have made such a heroic effort against all odds to lead the horse to victory, he told the jury.
He said the trainer Sir Michael Stoute, for whom Fallon was once stable jockey, praised the Irishman's "tremendous ride" on Russian Rhythm in another race which Fallon was said to have conspired to lose.
Pointing to last weekend's Arc de Triomphe win by Fallon on Dylan Thomas Mr Kelsey-Fry said the jockey's own stated pessimism about the horse's prospects in a TV interview shortly beforehand would undoubtedly have sent people like co-accused Miles Rodgers off to bet against the horse - only to lose their money because of Fallon's sensational win.
"He was willing to share opinions with Mr Sherkle - who was a friend - about who he fancied and who he didn't fancy. It was not a corrupt relationship. There was nothing wrong with it. The whole world wants to know his opinion on horses."
The case continues.