December 7 - The Kieren Fallon race-fixing trial ended today when the judge declared that there was no case to answer. Fallon and the five men accused of fixing horse races and profiting from it on Betfair were acquitted when the judge found that the testimony given by the prosecution's only expert witness contained "significant shortcomings".

The expert witness was an Australian who freely admitted that he was not versed in UK horseracing rules. Based on this startling admission the judge ruled that Ray Murrihy had essentially disqualified his own testimony, and without it the case against Fallon and the others collapsed.

Fallon along with two other jockeys stood accused of conspiring to fix horse races for a betting syndicate led by Miles Rodgers who then bet against the horses on Betfair. The syndicate won at least 60,000 pounds although Fallon cost them over 300,000 pounds by winning races he was allegedly supposed to lose.

In fact, Fallon's winning percentage on these "fixed" races was higher than his normal percentage, and although the circumstantial evidence against him in some of the minor races (like his infamous loss in Lingfield) was strong it clearly did not satisy the conditions of legal proof.

It is estimated that the case has cost over 10 million pounds, and Fallon's loss of income thanks to his UK ban while the case lingered on will surely run into the millions of pounds as well. It's short-priced odds that Fallon will sue now for those lost earnings, and because the state botched this case so badly there is a good chance he will win that battle as well.

Other Articles:

Cheltenham Betting Preview For Saturday - 12-15-07

Coolmore Stud Won't Commit To New Jockey - 12-12-07

Kieran Fallon Tests Positive For Cocaine - 12-10-07

Hong Kong Vase Results A Betting Upset - 12-09-07

2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup Antepost Betting Update -12-05-07

Hong Kong International Races This Sunday - 12-03-07

2007 Japan Cup Goes To Admire Moon - 11-30-07

2007 Cape Fillies Guineas At The Mercy Of Captain's Lover - 11-29-07


2012/04/02 06:42:38 AM