The Fallon case? Only the result matters

By Ian Carnaby

Sir Alf Ramsey, plain old Alf at the time, once opined that newspapers should not bother with football reports but simply publish the results. Not a great lover of amateur analysts, Lord knows what he would have made of the modern Fleet Street’s obsession with the holding midfielder or Lampard’s compatibility with Gerrard. You can be around at the right time, and he was.

In a way, the Kieren Fallon case reminds me of Sir Alf’s attitude where newspapers are concerned. Old hands know that this is a major story (well, of course it is) which will run out of steam quite quickly. When that happens, only the result will matter. Sadly, and unfairly, none of the other defendants will feature all that much. This is Fallon’s story and everyone wants to know what will happen to him. Even so, the welter of detail, the minutiae of court business, will leave most readers panting for less. Hardened news editors know this and there will be only passing references to the case as it meanders towards Christmas and possibly beyond.

The Racing Post is different in that it is racing’s publication and everything will need to be reported in some detail. Not for the first time in the past dozen years or so, it will have good reason to give thanks for the presence of David Ashforth, easily its most informed and entertaining writer. If you want to point out that we’ve known each other for a long time, that’s fair enough. But, even if we were complete strangers, it would still be my opinion that he has been vital to the Post for a long, long time.

I imagine he is on the case for the duration, although whether he can manage court appearances on a daily basis is another matter. If fatigue sets in, Peter Thomas is probably the right man to step in now and again. That’s the way I’d run it, anyway.

Very wisely, Ashforth has already hinted at the tedium involved. Even this week there have been references to bottoms sore from sitting and the possibility that the sun may be shining outside. He knows that keeping the jury interested will be a major achievement in itself. If you remember, there were some vintage pieces during the Top Cees case, when jurors sat in mute stupefaction as Fallon and his blameless partner failed yet again to accept an inviting gap in the Swaffham Handicap before bolting up in the Chester Cup. One commentator said it was like sitting through an Eric Rohmer double bill and then being told to stay put because Noel Edmonds was offering an interpretation afterwards. Will to live, loss of, etc etc.

It is not for me to comment on how things will go and I have no strong opinion anyway. I happen to think Fallon’s disciplinary record is appalling and the blinkered support for him in certain quarters misguided, but neither of those things is relevant to the matter in hand. One thing which is quite certain is that not many minutes will pass, at any stage, without Betfair being mentioned. The role of exchange betting and the opportunities it provides will be much more important than video coverage of this race and that, was it ‘off’, was it not. If the earlier case taught anyone anything, it is that you cannot expect a non-racing audience to appreciate the difference.

In the coming weeks and months, much will depend on whether twelve representatives of that same curious yet uncaring audience gets to grips with the exchanges. I go back several years, to an agreeable meeting and a pleasant lunch with Andrew Black, one of Betfair’s co-founders, for a magazine piece. Made possible by the internet, exchange betting was such a simple idea, like all the best ones, and it was just a question of making the technology work to the best advantage. It is one of the great success stories of modern times and the marketing has been brilliant. But I wonder if anyone involved had the slightest inkling that it could also pave the way for the events about to unfold in the High Court.

The messages of support for Fallon, as much to do with ‘wronged individual against the Establishment’ as anything else, are hopelessly biased. Unfortunately, they also hint at a basic misconception, which is that the jockey will either win or lose the right to ride in Britain again. This is simply not true. If the defence prevails, Fallon will still have to re-apply for his licence. And who can say what extra charges the British Horseracing Authority will lay at his door?

We are in for the long haul, so let’s be grateful we have the right man with notebook and pencil in hand. Otherwise, this particular story would become a saga in world record time. And even Fallon’s loudest supporters would be asking to be woken up when it was all over.