Ill Fallon ‘will be well’ for Kentucky

Kieren Fallon gave up his four rides at Kempton yesterday due to illness and will not ride again in Britain before the season ends on Saturday, as he prepares instead for success across the Atlantic in this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup.

The six-times champion jockey has racked up 145 winners in an impressive campaign, but is destined for third place in this year’s title race, with reigning champion Paul Hanagan – who was again on the scoresheet yesterday with a treble at Redcar –and Silvestre de Sousa fighting it out for top spot. Hanagan seemingly now has the title at his mercy. The curtain will officially come down on the Flat turf season at Doncaster on Saturday, but Fallon flies out to Kentucky today to ride Alan McCabe’s Caspar Netscher in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

The jockey’s agent, Terry Norman, said: “He’ll be well again for America, but he just isn’t well enough to ride today.”

History-seeking mare Goldikova was the star turn on the back side at Churchill Downs yesterday as she took to the dirt track amongst an impressive posse of French-trained runners at the star-studded Breeders’ Cup meeting. The three-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile sported bright red bandages on both front legs and a New Zealand rug as she was partnered by her regular work rider Thierry Blaise.