Jockey Kieren Fallon rides into Godolphin’s good books ahead of English Oaks

Jockey's understanding of horses aiding his late-career resurgence

Ihtimal, pictured under jockey Silvestre De Souza during the UAE 1,000 Guineas for thoroughbreds on February 6, 2014, will run in Friday's English Oaks with new jockey Kieren Fallon. Jeffrey E Biteng / The NationalShow less

If there is one thing that has driven the rise of Kieren Fallon these past few months, it is the mornings.

In November, the former champion jockey, 49, was seriously considering retirement. On Friday, he will ride Ihtimal, Godolphin's dual UAE Classic winner, in place of Silvestre De Sousa at Epsom in the English Oaks.

On Saturday, he seeks a fourth Derby success on True Story, another mount from which he has supplanted De Sousa, a retained rider for the world's biggest racing operation.

Last year, Fallon was getting out of bed at 10am and missing all the action that riding in the early morning sun delivers. The sharpening of the mind and reflexes, the ability to develop relationships with horses that could possibly carry a jockey to the summit, and perhaps more importantly, showing off skills to trainers.

Saeed bin Suroor may have stated clearly that Fallon and De Sousa rate equally, but the trainer is still the man who puts the jockeys' names beside each horse on the morning gallops roster.

Fallon had lost the retainer for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, and with that, the best horses at Luca Cumani’s international stable. He had ridden only 62 winners in an entire season in Britain, his worst strike-rate for nearly 20 years.

In short, Fallon had become old and loose, and you only have to look across the Atlantic to see what a devastating path for any jockey that represents.

Alberto Delgado rode California Chrome for his first six starts. In the Golden State last year, he planned to go straight for the lead as soon as the gates snapped open. California Chrome reared in the stalls, was last after a matter of strides and finished sixth. It was Delgado’s final ride on Chrome, and the colt’s final defeat, as Victor Espinosa took the reins and is now an unblemished six for six entering tomorrow’s Triple Crown bid.

“When you don’t ride enough, situations come up and you don’t know what to do,” California Chrome trainer Art Sherman told the New York Times this week.

“You got to ride every day, and get with it, and get your timing, a natural thing. You can’t worry, ‘Is he going to take me off this horse?’ Bad things happen then, and they did.”

For Fallon, it was the same. He looked at riding in America, and even went so far as to try to obtain a visa, but after being advised that he would have to ride at a lighter weight, he tried his hand in Dubai.

Prior to being asked to ride for Bin Suroor at Al Quoz with William Buick, Hayley Turner and Ted Durcan during the early stages of the Dubai World Cup Carnival this year, Fallon had ridden for the Godolphin trainer 27 times in the previous two years. He was hardly the go-to man.

One of those rides, however, was on Prince Bishop at Kempton in September, when he willed to the wire his ageing partner to upset stablemate Royal Empire in a protracted battle with De Sousa. Prince Bishop had not won since November 2011, yet dipped under standard time by nearly a quarter of a second.

When Fallon next rode Prince Bishop, the pair won the second round of the Al Maktoum Challenge, and they added to that win next time out when Fallon grabbed the rail and saved an astonishing 23 metres of ground.

Fallon’s skill is that of the consummate horseman, one who understands pace. He is in tune with the horse more than most jockeys, and when push comes to shove, he shoves the hardest.

It is his intimate knowledge of Epsom, however, and his under-rated ability to settle horses that will come as the greatest help to True Story.

Last season, Dawn Approach came to Epsom with a huge reputation, but it was one that was blown to smithereens with his complete lack of ability to handle Epsom’s camber without any cover in a deliberately slow race.

In an exhaustive study going back to the start of the 2013 season, published by the English ratings service Timeform, horses trained by Charlie Appleby and Bin Suroor and ridden by De Sousa and Mikael Barzalona have found it difficult to settle in races.

Fallon came up better in the study than either of Godolphin’s riders, and having won the Derby on Oath, Kris Kin, and North Light, who denied Godolphin’s Rule Of Law, Fallon was the logical choice on True Story for a trainer determined to hand his employer his first Derby win.

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