The Fallon Factor: “She’s something else and I’m sure she’ll show that in the Nunthorpe”

The multiple Champion Jockey previews York’s Ebor Festival

What a week of racing we have in store at York, although the Ebor brings back slightly bittersweet memories for me.

I’d been hoping I’d get to ride Sapience in the Ebor for my boss Jimmy FitzGerald. They’d been getting him ready for two years for that day, and on the Saturday before the race they backed him down from 40-1 to 7-2. I thought it would kickstart my career.

But Pat Eddery jocked me off! He duly went and won going away and I had to wait until 1998 to win the race on Tuning for Henry Cecil.

I’ve always loved York and was leading rider at the Ebor meeting a number of times. It’s a fair track and always very competitive racing. It’s a great frontrunning track and one where you want to be kicking on; I won so many races by kicking on and holding them off late. I remember when I won on Islington [in the Yorkshire Oaks] I just hung on and people thought I’d kicked too soon, but I won a lot more races by kicking early and putting the race to bed.

It’s a place to pay attention to trainers and jockeys who have done well there before, which in truth is the case at most courses.

The likes of David O’Meara and Richard Fahey will have been getting horses ready for this week months ago. They’ll have all their horses really prepped and that’s why they do so well there. Sir Michael Stoute and William Haggas are exactly the same.

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The Fallon Factor: “She’s something else and I’m sure she’ll show that in the Nunthorpe”

The multiple Champion Jockey previews York’s Ebor Festival

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