Fallon jnr gets one up on dad

THE meteoric rise of Cieren Fallon jnr through the jockey ranks continued at Newmarket yesterday, when he landed the Group One Darley July Cup on Roger Teal-trained Oxted.

It was a first top-level win for last season’s champion apprentice. Success not only came on just his third ride in a group race but also in one of the few big prizes to elude his six-time champion jockey father Kieren Fallon, who won 16 Classics.

Father and son, who share a house in Newmarket, had walked together before the race and 21-year-old Cieren admitted that while he was grateful for all his father’s advice, he would revel in a rare opportunity for one-upmanship.

Cieren said: ‘I have one up on him now! He helped me today and told me how to ride Oxted. He said “keep it simple and stay straight and make sure you have him well balanced going into the Dip’’.

‘Oxted is a good horse and he is going places. I was just a passenger on a good horse. I always remember what my dad says. Tonight will be interesting. I will definitely wind him up. He was going to America but he stuck around to look after me and I can’t thank him enough.’

Commenting on his son’s rise in the weighing room, Fallon snr said: ‘He’s got so much confidence. I wish I had half his confidence when I was riding.’

It is only 10 months since Oxted gave Fallon jnr his biggest win in the Portland Handicap at Doncaster.

The gelding also supplied his jockey with his first Group winner in the Abernant Stakes at Newmarket last month.

The 12-1 shot’s length-and-a-quarter win from Sceptical, with favourite Golden Horde a neck further back in third, was also a massive first Group One win in the career of Teal.

Teal said: ‘Cieren gels with the horse. We backed him and the kid came good.’