Fallon issues retirement threat

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Former champion jockey Kieren Fallon says he will quit racing if he cannot clear his name of race-fixing charges.

Fallon, who rides Yeats in Tuesday's Melbourne Gold Cup, is facing criminal trial in Britain and is currently banned from riding in the UK.

Fallon told The Times newspaper: "I've never felt this way before, but with everything that's been thrown at me, I could just give up riding.

"If the job (as Coolmore's retained jockey) went, I would quit."

In July this year the Crown Prosecution Service charged Fallon and others with conspiracy to defraud by dishonestly agreeing not to permit certain horses to run on their merits.

Fallon said: "I'm told that we're looking at January now as the earliest time for a hearing.

"If it's not finished then, my team won't wait any longer - they can't. They need a jockey who is free to ride everywhere.

"I wouldn't carry on riding no-hopers round Listowel - not after riding favourites in all the Classics."