If you don’t know the name Fallon already than you might definitely know it in a few years’ time.
Cieren Fallon, the son of Kieren Fallon, has had an outstanding early career as a flat track jockey. He’s a two time champion apprentice and a two time Group 1 race winner, and is all set to take the sport by storm.
After recovering from a lengthy injury set back he has made his future intentions clear, stating that he’s eager to get back racing, but more so back to winning ways:
“I want to try and get back in the enclosure as soon as possible, and just to get that first win in the bag would be important.
“Further on in the season I want to get another hundred winners and get another Group 1. They’re the main aims for the year.”
Cieren’s father was an outstanding flat race jockey and is widely considered as one of the best to ever do it.
Across his career he racked up an incredible 2253 race victories, whilst winning 17 major events from the year’s 1997 to 2014 . The legend of the sport was therefore crowned British Champion on six occasions.
Now eight years on from his retirement his son has stepped into the limelight, but was quick to acknowledge the gravity of his father’s achievements, and the pressures of following in his footsteps, saying:
“There’s definitely a lot of pressure, but I didn’t really feel it in the beginning.
“I wasn’t involved in racing growing up in Wigan so I didn’t really understand the achievements or the heights that he got to.
“But then when I started to race I understood just what he had accomplished in his career.”
Any sort of pressure on the family name did not hinder Cieren’s performances, who burst onto the racing scene in 2018, before becoming the champion apprentice in 2019 and 2020. He went on to say:
“At that point I had started to get lucky and I became a champion apprentice twice. So I never felt the pressure so much because I was already hitting those heights so early.”
Since his early career he has won two Group 1 races, the highest level of flat track racing. The victories came at the July Cup in 2020, and the King’s Stand Stakes in 2021.
After these accomplishments it was clear that there could be another Fallon to dominate the sport for years to come.
However, there was a large setback for Cieren who has been sidelined from racing action for four months after a horrific accident in Newcastle on November 10th.
The 24 year-old got trapped between his horse and the gates as he was preparing to race, and has explained just what exactly happened that afternoon, saying:
“I was in the gates ready to go and there was another horse that was being difficult to load. I was only on a 2 year-old, so basically a baby. It was her third ever start and she must’ve got a little anxious.
“She tried to break free but her leg got stuck, trapping me in-between her and the metal gate. We were stuck there until she could get out, but at that point I had already tore my ACL and MCL, whilst braking my ankle.”
However, Cieren was just relieved that his injuries weren’t even more severe, adding:
“You do get a few accidents in the gates, so it’s weird, I feel unlucky that it happened to me, but lucky it wasn’t worse.
“An hour or two later there was another jockey that had the same incident and is now paralysed from the neck down, so I consider myself very lucky indeed.”
Horse racing fanatic Alex Toomey has watched Cieran with excitement for years.
He knows everything there’s to know about the sport, and believes despite the ‘setback’ Cieren still has what it takes to become a legend, he went onto say:
“I think he generally has the talent to land a horse in a top race, he’s still only young so it’s important to understand he can still go to the top.
“The injury would’ve been a huge setback but now it’s about his mentality and drive to get back to where he was, if not better.
“The chances of him getting injured the way he did again is highly unlikely, so it’s important that he remains confident when in the gates so’s not to effect the way he jumps out, which can be a crucial part of a race.”
It’s going to be a big 2024 for Cieren, he’s laid out his goals and put the injury behind him. Now can he go on and meet those targets? Or better yet, surpass his father in the sport.
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