What did anyone think of the Kieren Fallon interview?

1 ANSWERS

1. amomipais82
   

   Hi,
   Kieren Fallon believes Newmarket, the headquarters of Flat racing, remains in the grip of a damaging drug-taking culture.
   
   The six-time champion jockey, who only returned to the saddle in September after serving an 18-month ban for testing positive to cocaine, voices his fears during a wide-ranging interview with Clare Balding in an Inside Sport Special: Kieren Fallon — The Ride To Redempton — broadcast at 11.20 tonight on BBC1.
   
   Fallon, who talks of the addiction he has battled, underlines his determination to make the most of a final chance to leave a positive legacy on the sport as he speaks about chapters in his colourful career ranging from losing his job with Henry Cecil amid false rumours of an affair with his wife Natalie to the Old Bailey race-fixing trial that
   collapsed in December 2007.
   Kieren Fallon and Dylan Thomas
   
   Positive legacy: Fallon
   
   The threat of prison that surrounded him then, Fallon tells Balding, made him turn to drugs.
   
   Fallon said: ‘Obviously, when things weren’t going well, my life was spiralling out of control.
   
   'Every second week, we’re having to take trips to England to my barristers.
   
   'We couldn’t see an end to it and you get to a stage when you don’t really care anymore.’
   
   Asked by Balding whether there is a drug problem in racing, Fallon replies: ‘I know there is.’
   
   Fallon credits the intervention of royal trainer Sir Michael Stoute for making him face up to his addiction and says he would love to help others with their problems.
   
   When quizzed by Balding as to why more people were not getting caught if drug use was so prevalent, Fallon tells her: ‘I don’t mean in the weighing room, I mean outside.
   
   'I mean that Newmarket has the highest rate for its population of any town in England.’
   
   Despite Fallon’s fears, Newmarket trainer James Fanshawe, however, believes the town’s battle with drug-taking has made major strides.Two of Fanshawe’s staff were included in a spate of suicides that rocked the racing town four years ago.
   James Fanshawe
   
   Major strides: Fanshawe
   
   Fanshawe said: ‘Kieren’s plight and the high-profile suicides mean everything has been a lot more vigilant.
   
   ‘There are a lot of towns around the country that have a drug problem. But the Racing Welfare charity, trainers and the lads themselves are a lot more aware of the problem.
   
   ‘Compared to two years ago, things have improved. If you suspect a lad might have a problem, you have a word with him. I did suspect something was going on in my hostel and took measures to prevent it by installing CCTV cameras so we could keep an eye on things.
   
   ‘If an undesirable person wants to come into my yard in the middle of the night to sell drugs, they are on camera.’

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