Fallon intends to ride full-time in California
ARCADIA, Calif.- Kieren Fallon, the leading rider in England six times, is planning a move to California this winter, according to a report in the Racing Post.
Fallon, 49, will begin riding in California at the end of this month, coinciding with the Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 and the final days of the British turf flat season. The veteran rider said he hopes to make a permanent move for the final stage of his career.
“I want to go to American to see if I do want to stop riding or continue,” he told the Racing Post. “I’d like to go back to California, which I intend doing in the next couple of weeks, just to try to get the buzz back again. Things really haven’t happened in the second half of the year, and you get a bit stale.”
This year, Fallon has ridden such winners as Night of Thunder in the English 2000 Guineas. Through Thursday, he was tied for 25th in the British standings with 61 wins from 471 mounts. Ryan Moore leads all riders with 163 wins.
The last month has been a quiet period for Fallon in Britain, with five winners, including two earlier this week.
“Without Night of Thunder, and without [trainer] Saeed [Bin Suroor] this year, I’d have been dead, as I didn’t really have much else apart from midweek winners,” Fallon told the Racing Post. “If you’re not riding good winners on the big days, it fizzles out. That’s why I think it’s time to go back to America, to see if I can do something there.”
Fallon has 16 lifetime wins in the United States, including consecutive runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Islington and Ouija Board in 2003 and 2004, and the 2005 Arlington Million on Powerscourt. He rode at Gulfstream Park in early 2009, recording five wins.
Islington won the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita. Fallon also participated in an international jockey competition at Santa Anita in 1999, winning two races.