Racing: Fallon begins battle for credibility

Kieren Fallon, the champion jockey accused of race-fixing, began the rally to clear his name yesterday.

The Irishman hardly repelled the Sunday newspaper headline of "sports scandal of the decade" when he was rushed through Stansted airport by a minder on Monday. Yesterday, though, he was back down to earth and told ITV the claims against him and the circumstances of Ballinger Ridge's defeat at Lingfield were "completely ridiculous".

"I've been very stupid. We've been warned against this many times. I was totally innocent of what was going on but have ended up being very stupid," Fallon said. "I've let so many people down, so many racing people and people who have supported me over the years. It's just turned out terrible."

Fallon, though, admitted no wrong. "These are completely ridiculous allegations," he said. "For one, it's impossible to fix a race because of the amount of horses that run and the amount of people involved. That doesn't make any sense at all. Most jockeys are hungry, it's a tough sport and the only way you are going to get anywhere is by winning, not by losing."