The Jockey Club could take further action against champion jockey Kieren Fallon following the handover of an evidence dossier by the News of the World on Wednesday night, writes Dominic Ponsford.
The paper’s front-page exclusive about alleged corruption in horse racing was widely followed up throughout the national media.
Just hours before a race, Fallon told an undercover NoWjournalist that the horse he was riding would lose. He was later banned by the Jockey Club for his riding of Ballinger Ridge.
The sting which brought about Fallon’s confessions was set up by NoWinvestigations editor Mazher Mahmood, who used his tried and tested formula of posing as an Arab sheikh.
The jockey gave Mahmood a series of racing tips using his insider information after the NoWentertained him at The Dorchester Hotel.
At one point, according to the paper, Fallon looked for bugs, saying: “I have to be careful, the News of the World have been after me.”
Mahmood said: “We were contacted by a whistleblower in early February who was concerned about unusual betting patterns.”
“We contacted Fallon through his agent posing as representatives from a business consortium in the Middle East. Fallon agreed to meet us and things progressed rapidly from there.”
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