Fallon tries to reset career with move to Kentucky

To find a rider winning at a 3 percent rate with a mount at Indiana Grand on a routine Tuesday isn’t a surprise. Low-percentage and infrequently used riders aren’t out of the ordinary there, or at any second-tier track around the country.

It’s just rare when that same rider is a six-time champion jockey, but such is the case Tuesday, when Kieren Fallon, the leading rider in Britain six times, rides in a pair of grass races at Indiana Grand for trainer Ben Colebrook.

Fallon, 50, is hitting the restart button on his career Tuesday, shifting his base from California to Kentucky and Indiana, planning to ride mostly at Ellis Park and Indiana Grand this month as he gears up for what he hopes will be a successful meet for him at the all-turf meet at Kentucky Downs, as well as at upcoming meets at Churchill Downs and Keeneland.

Just over a decade ago, Fallon riding in Indiana for anything other than an international riding competition would have defied belief. At the time, he was one of the elite riders in the world.

His many victories included three runnings of the Epsom Derby, four renewals of the Epsom Oaks, plus Breeders’ Cup victories aboard Islington in the 2003 Filly and Mare Turf and Ouija Board in the same race a year later.

“He’s ridden more Grade 1 winners than I’ve had slices of pizza,” said his new agent, Ellis Park announcer Jimmy McNerney.

Substance-abuse violations and a race-fixing allegation – from which he was ultimately acquitted by British authorities – began to derail his career in the mid- to late 2000s, and his career in Europe never fully recovered.

Fallon sought to recapture lost glory in California, but the move didn’t pan out, with a record of one win from 34 mounts this year.

His fortune may soon be changing. At the encouragement of trainer Wesley Ward, he decided to shift his base to Kentucky, in great part to capitalize on the lucrative meet at Kentucky Downs, run on a European-style course, with turns, hills, and dips. And McNerney is among the most successful agents in this region.

“Especially at Kentucky Downs, I think that guy will be unbelievable,” said Ward, who plans to ride him regularly along with Rafael Hernandez.

Fallon, asked why at his age he still wants to ride, prove himself, and compete below the prestigious level at which he once raced, said, “I just love riding horses.”

He found his California experience difficult.

“I want to get back on a roll,” he said. “Not getting on a live one is very hard.”

Fallon has at least one live one Tuesday at Indiana Grand in the fourth race with Czar, the 8-5 morning-line favorite in a 1 3/8-mile turf race for maidens. His other mount, Archiboldo, is a 6-1 outsider in the eighth race, a first-level optional claimer, also at 1 3/8 miles on turf.

McNerney said Fallon will ride some in the weeks ahead while building business for Kentucky Downs, which begins Sept. 5.

Ward in action at York

Ward is ready for another trip across the pond. Next Friday, he runs Acapulco against older foes in the Nunthrope Stakes at York and Finnegan a day later in the Gimcrack Stakes.

Acapulco will be in receipt of as much as 27 pounds due to being a 2-year-old racing against elders, Ward said, and Irad Ortiz Jr. will have the mount at 110 pounds.

Finnegan also has him excited based on his works and the fact that he’s a 2-year-old half-brother to 2012 Arkansas Derby winner and Kentucky Derby and Preakness runner-up Bodemeister.

Ward said he leaves Tuesday to oversee the two horses in Britain.