KIEREN FALLON IS BACK

AFTER a charm offensive of astounding proportions the greatest jockey of his era is back in racing's forgiving fold.

With a big smile on his face and much of the media seemingly tucked snugly in his pocket, Kieren Fallon is riding racehorses once again.

Fallon is 44 but don't expect even the slightest diminution of his awesome powers.

Fearsomely fit, he returns from his worldwide drugs ban with the hunger of a man who has been cast into outer darkness and is now back for a spectacular last hurrah.

And it will be great to see him in action because Fallon in full cry is a sight to behold, a remorseless and ruthless force that had no equal when he last ruled the weighing room roost.

There has been much ludicrous speculation about how the great jockey will do.

Well stop torturing yourselves - he will do brilliantly because in a race and on the gallops there is nobody quite like Fallon.

But Kieren on a horse has never been much of a problem. It is Fallon off a horse that has, by his own admission, been where it has all gone wrong.

A genius in the saddle he is just plain ordinary with a propensity for finding trouble out of it. Funnily enough Kieren's return to the fray coincides with a period when racing has undergone such a pathetic, collective loss of nerve and confidence, it is happy to hang its hat on virtually anybody as a returning hero even when, as in Fallon's case, the form book warns that the blessing might just be mixed.

There has been a degree of rubbishing the achievements of the top jockeys during the long period Fallon has been out of action.

The distinctly uncharitable message coming through is that in his absence their triumphs have been strictly second class.

It adds up to little more than gamesmanship and cheap intimidation but I wonder whether it may not come back to haunt him yet.

Much of the undiscriminating hoopla that has greeted Kieren's return has presumably been based on the hope that this flawed character has ironed out some of his defects and shortcomings.

As a fellow veteran of rehab I devoutly hope, for his sake and ours, that this is the case. It is important for the sport, that owes him nothing but which he still owes a great deal, that Fallon's comeback is a long and sustained joy for all concerned.

Some of the media coverage of Kieren's comeback might lead you to think that Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi have taken out a jockey's licence. But Kieren is no saint and nor does he need to be in order to gain our respect.

He may have drawn a blank on his first day back on Friday, and missed out again yesterday at Haydock despite riding a few fancied horses, but the winners will come.

He just needs to be the brilliant jockey we know and admire and to keep his nose clean.

That is all the sport asks of him as he has finally been given fair wind for this last voyage.

Whether he keeps his side of the bargain and steers for clear blue water or heads for the rocks is up to him alone.

Read Alastair Down in the Racing Post every week

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