Kieren Fallon retires from saddle

Kieren Fallon, a six-time champion jockey in Britain who rode sporadically in the United States in recent years, announced his retirement earlier this week, citing severe depression.

Fallon, 51, made the surprise announcement on Monday through the Irish Turf Club’s chief medical officer, Dr. Adrian McGoldrick, who said the depression was only recently diganosed. Fallon is expected to begin an in-patient treatment program for depression soon, McGoldrick said.

Fallon rode in England and Ireland in recent months. He spent last winter at Santa Anita, where he rode workouts in the morning and had the occasional mount in races. In 2015, Fallon had one win from 82 mounts in the United States.

Fallon had his greatest success in Europe, where he was the stable jockey for such legendary trainers as Henry Cecil, Michael Stoute and Aidan O’Brien. Fallon won 16 English classic races, including the English Derby three times. He had 29 wins at Royal Ascot.

In the United States, Fallon won consecutive runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, in 2003 and 2004 with Islington and Ouija Board, and the 2005 Arlington Million on Powerscourt.