Officials at the Jockey Club are to study the contents of a newspaper dossier before interviewing champion jockey Kieren Fallon over the Ballinger Ridge affair.
In a four-page article, the News Of The World today alleged that Fallon told undercover journalists before last Tuesday's controversial race at Lingfield that Rye would beat his mount Ballinger Ridge
. The race caused a storm of controversy because the champion was caught and beaten a short head after easing down when well clear. He was found to be in breach of racing's rules in that he failed to ride out for first place, and the matter was referred on to the Jockey Club as unusual betting patterns were reported before the event by exchange firm Betfair.
Rye started the 8-11 favourite, while Ballinger Ridge went off at 15-8. The Ballinger Ridge investigation is now the Jockey Club's "number one priority", according to John Maxse, public relations director at Portman Square.
"The Jockey Club announced on Tuesday that it was investigating the suspicious betting patterns of the race at Lingfield in which Kieren Fallon finished second on Ballinger Ridge," he said. "One of the key aims of the investigation is to establish if there was any correlation between the suspicious betting patterns and Fallon's failure to obtain the best possible placing.
"As part of that investigation the Jockey Club will be interviewing Kieren Fallon. The News Of The World have agreed to provide the Jockey Club with the dossier of their own investigation into Kieren Fallon and once we have studied it we will be interviewing the jockey about its contents."
Fallon at the moment faces a maximum 21-day ban for being in breach of Rule 156 (i), a matter which would have been dealt with by the local stewards had there been no unusual betting patterns reported to racing's rulers. There has been criticism in some quarters that Fallon would suffer unfairly and miss a significant part of the turf Flat season if dates for his ban were not resolved before the full investigation.
However, Maxse added: "The Jockey Club will make a decision tomorrow as to whether Kieren Fallon's suspension for failing to obtain the best possible placing on Ballinger Ridge can take effect while the security department's investigation into the betting patterns is still on-going."
The News Of The World alleged that, three hours before Tuesday's race, Fallon unwittingly told their undercover journalists: "I'm actually down as the favourite. It's not very good. The horse of Jamie Osborne's is going to win the race. A horse called Rye."
The newspaper claims Fallon gave his opinion on other races but "declined a cash payment" for such information.