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| Kieren Fallon plans move to ride in US as he seeks to recover ‘buzz’ | Kieren Fallon plans move to ride in US as he seeks to recover ‘buzz’ |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Kieren Fallon, who has been Britain’s champion jockey six times, has said he is considering riding in the United States, perhaps on a full-time basis, to try to get “the buzz back” in his long career. Fallon, 49, rode the 40-1 chance Night Of Thunder to victory in the 2,000 Guineas, the season’s first Classic, in May and also replaced Silvestre de Sousa as the principal jockey for Godolpin’s Saeed bin Suroor in the early months of the season. He rode only four winners from 55 rides in September, however, and two wins from 24 starts in October. | |
| Speaking to the organisers of British Champions Day, Fallon said that “without Night Of Thunder and without probably Saeed this year, I’d have been dead, as I didn’t really have much else apart from midweek winners”. | Speaking to the organisers of British Champions Day, Fallon said that “without Night Of Thunder and without probably Saeed this year, I’d have been dead, as I didn’t really have much else apart from midweek winners”. |
| Fallon added: “I’d like to go back to California, which I intend doing in the next couple of weeks, just to try and get the buzz back again. Things really haven’t happened in the second half of this year and you get a bit stale. | Fallon added: “I’d like to go back to California, which I intend doing in the next couple of weeks, just to try and get the buzz back again. Things really haven’t happened in the second half of this year and you get a bit stale. |
| “I’ve always wanted to go there and kind of stay there but there was always something here for me to come back to. Now there doesn’t seem to be a lot to come back to so, if I had a chance of staying there, I probably would. | “I’ve always wanted to go there and kind of stay there but there was always something here for me to come back to. Now there doesn’t seem to be a lot to come back to so, if I had a chance of staying there, I probably would. |
| “If you’re not riding good winners on the big day, it fizzles out. That’s why I think it’s time to go back to America, to see can I do something there. I want to go to America to see: do I want to stop riding or do I want to continue?” | “If you’re not riding good winners on the big day, it fizzles out. That’s why I think it’s time to go back to America, to see can I do something there. I want to go to America to see: do I want to stop riding or do I want to continue?” |
| Fallon has picked up a Group One ride for Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday, having been booked to ride Richard Hannon’s Toormore, one of last season’s top two-year-olds, in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. “We’re delighted to have Kieren riding the horse,” Tim Palin, racing manager for Middleham Park Racing, which owns Toormore, said. “When you’re going into these races, you are looking for big-time jockeys, as, for them, it’s just another race. | Fallon has picked up a Group One ride for Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday, having been booked to ride Richard Hannon’s Toormore, one of last season’s top two-year-olds, in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. “We’re delighted to have Kieren riding the horse,” Tim Palin, racing manager for Middleham Park Racing, which owns Toormore, said. “When you’re going into these races, you are looking for big-time jockeys, as, for them, it’s just another race. |
| “Kieren has probably ridden more Group One winners than I’ve had hot dinners, so it’s great to have him onside and we’ll talk tactics nearer the time.” | “Kieren has probably ridden more Group One winners than I’ve had hot dinners, so it’s great to have him onside and we’ll talk tactics nearer the time.” |
| Night Of Thunder, who beat Kingman and Australia to win the 2,000 Guineas, is also in the field with Richard Hughes booked to ride. He will face 10 opponents, including Charm Spirit, who beat Night Of Thunder by half a length in the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp last month. | Night Of Thunder, who beat Kingman and Australia to win the 2,000 Guineas, is also in the field with Richard Hughes booked to ride. He will face 10 opponents, including Charm Spirit, who beat Night Of Thunder by half a length in the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp last month. |
| The GoingStick reading on the round course at Ascot racecourse on Thursday dropped below a mark at which racing has been abandoned in the past, suggesting the course is close to saturated, but Chris Stickels’, the track’s clerk of the course, expects no problems staging Champions Day, even with more rain forecast. | The GoingStick reading on the round course at Ascot racecourse on Thursday dropped below a mark at which racing has been abandoned in the past, suggesting the course is close to saturated, but Chris Stickels’, the track’s clerk of the course, expects no problems staging Champions Day, even with more rain forecast. |
| The official going on the round course at Ascot was heavy, soft in places, with a GoingStick reading of 5.0. The figure is lower than the reading of 5.2 before an evening meeting in May 2012, when scheduled races on the course were abandoned with the turf described as “waterlogged in places” and the entire card moved to the track’s straight course. | |
| The reading has dipped below 5.0 only once since 2007, when the ground on the chase course was recorded at 4.9 before a jumps meeting in December 2011. “I don’t do my going on the GoingStick readings,” Stickels said. “I do it on how I think it’s going to ride and the GoingStick readings are independent. | |
| “Many different factors can determine whether the going is raceable. You can have false patches or water lying in places, and there’s none of that on the round course, so that’s why we’re comfortable with where we are. | “Many different factors can determine whether the going is raceable. You can have false patches or water lying in places, and there’s none of that on the round course, so that’s why we’re comfortable with where we are. |
| “There’s fresh ground all the way around the round course and nine yards of fresh ground up the far rail on the straight, and seven or eight yards of fresh ground up the stands’ rail, too. | “There’s fresh ground all the way around the round course and nine yards of fresh ground up the far rail on the straight, and seven or eight yards of fresh ground up the stands’ rail, too. |
| “We’ve had 55mm of rain since Sunday and we’re forecast maybe 5mm or 6mm between now and racing. But we haven’t been not raceable yet and, if the forecast is correct, I don’t see there being any issues at all.” | “We’ve had 55mm of rain since Sunday and we’re forecast maybe 5mm or 6mm between now and racing. But we haven’t been not raceable yet and, if the forecast is correct, I don’t see there being any issues at all.” |
| “We’ve had 55mm of rain since Sunday and we’re forecast maybe 5mm or 6mm between now and racing. But we haven’t been not raceable yet and, if the forecast is correct, I don’t see there being any issues at all.” | “We’ve had 55mm of rain since Sunday and we’re forecast maybe 5mm or 6mm between now and racing. But we haven’t been not raceable yet and, if the forecast is correct, I don’t see there being any issues at all.” |
| Cirrus Des Aigles, a proven performer in the mud, is one of nine horses declared for Saturday’s feature event, the QIPCO Champion Stakes, with a first prize of £770,000. Dermot Weld’s lightly raced three-year-old Free Eagle has also been declared, but the trainer will walk the track on Saturday morning before deciding whether to let him take his chance. | Cirrus Des Aigles, a proven performer in the mud, is one of nine horses declared for Saturday’s feature event, the QIPCO Champion Stakes, with a first prize of £770,000. Dermot Weld’s lightly raced three-year-old Free Eagle has also been declared, but the trainer will walk the track on Saturday morning before deciding whether to let him take his chance. |
| Vautour, the impressive winner of last season’s Supreme Novice Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, will step up to novice chasing this season, Willie Mullins, the gelding’s trainer, said on Thursday, while the outstanding mare Annie Power, the winner of 11 of her 12 starts, could also go over the bigger obstacles | Vautour, the impressive winner of last season’s Supreme Novice Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, will step up to novice chasing this season, Willie Mullins, the gelding’s trainer, said on Thursday, while the outstanding mare Annie Power, the winner of 11 of her 12 starts, could also go over the bigger obstacles |
| “Annie Power will probably be put over a few fences at home soon to see how she gets on,” Mullins said at Punchestown on Thursday. “If she starts over hurdles this season she will probably stay over hurdles but if she starts over fences we could always switch back. I don’t think she will have any problem jumping fences.” | “Annie Power will probably be put over a few fences at home soon to see how she gets on,” Mullins said at Punchestown on Thursday. “If she starts over hurdles this season she will probably stay over hurdles but if she starts over fences we could always switch back. I don’t think she will have any problem jumping fences.” |
| Mullins was speaking after his novice chaser Alechi Inois had recorded an easy victory in the Grade Three Buck House Novice Chase, his fifth victory in as many races over fences. | Mullins was speaking after his novice chaser Alechi Inois had recorded an easy victory in the Grade Three Buck House Novice Chase, his fifth victory in as many races over fences. |