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Great post CR, makes visiting the Racing Forum worthwhile. A view expressed unequivocally and with passion.
NV,
You hit the nail on the head. Alcohol is LEGAL, cocaine ISN’T. Do I need to say anything else? OK I will.
Drinking 8 cans of Grolsch in the comfort of your own home is not ILLEGAL. Alcohol, at a dangerous level, doesn’t stay in your system for longer than 24 hours, hence why you can’t drink n drive immediately, but you can drink, then drive 24 hours later once you have slept it off.
Cocaine, on the other hand, is reported to stay in your system for weeks, and therefore the abuser of this ILLEGAL drug is always in danger of not being focussed for many weeks after the abuse. If Mr Fallon is found guilty of taking drugs, as he has done previously, then riding a horse, a few days after his alledged abuse, is not something I would condone.
It certainly isn’t something I would call him ‘welcome’ and a ‘hero’ for!
Besides, you’re missing the point I think. Just because Fallon has had a hard time, does this mean he had to revert to drugs? This is the main question. I had a hard time, and I didn’t revert to drugs. What would yo have done given Fallon’s or my situation – drugs or drink?
Mike
Well it’s nothing new that some jockeys take drugs. It always happened and it will happen in the future. But imagine they would ride drunk. That would be much more dangerous.
I have just been reading the HRA medical guidelines in relation to granting a UK licence they state:
PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS
Neuroses (eg. Anxiety state, depression) – D.
Applicants will be required to be off all medication and to be symptom free for an acceptable period of time (normally 3 to 12 months, depending on the diagnosis and type of therapy required).Psychoses (eg. Manic Depressive Illness, Schizophrenia) – R
Schizo-affective disorders – R
Dementia (eg. Pre-senile, Alzheimer’s Disease) – R
Personality disorder (eg. Post head injury syndrome, psychopathic disorders) – R
Dependance (or chronic abuse) – alcohol or drugs – R
Chronic solvent misuse – RWhere D means issuing of a licence will be deferred and R is a licence will be refused
Some more on ‘testing’ –
Drug testing of jockeys – this is co-ordinated by the Chief Medical Adviser and is carried out on behalf of the British Horseracing Authority by Medscreen, the largest provider of employment based drug screening in Europe. The emphasis is on testing jockeys for any product that is performance impairing (e.g. alcohol, cocaine and cannabis). Unlike some sports where the use of a proprietary nasal decongestant could result in a lengthy suspension, the focus is on providing a safe arena for competition in the most dangerous of all professional sports. Any impairment of performance could not only pose a serious risk to the safety of the jockey concerned but it could also put other jockey’s lives at risk. Details on banned substances can be found here.
Testing days are split between breathalyser-only testing days and urine-only testing days. On a breathalyser testing day, all the jockeys riding at that particular meeting will be tested, and anyone failing the test twice will be stood down from riding for the day. Further disciplinary action will depend on the levels of alcohol found. On urine testing days, up to 12 riders are chosen by ballot and the urine is tested for performance impairing drugs as mentioned above.
In 2006, 350 urine samples were taken on-course, alongside 309 breath tests. There were two positive samples for banned substances, and two positive tests for alcohol on the breathalyser. There were 120 tests carried out at the two Racing Schools for which there were no positive samples.
Bottom line – Racing would be far better off without Fallon and Down.
So would London Bridge
Think about itGood to see we’ve retained our sense of humour (albeit a slightly dodgy one). Nice one FOF.
Dear Fistof fury
I don’t know much about fists but you certainly exposed your hand when you implied that those in court with Kieren were bad people.In fact none of them were found guilty of anything! But since you have already judged them that did not matter. I wonder how many others you so cavalierly judge as you go about your daily life.
I wonder do you have a fondness for one vice over another since you seem eager to rank them also.(maybe letting yourself off the hook that way)I bet more lives are lost to drunken driving such as our noble trainer xxxx was found guilty of than we know of .Yet we dare not throw the big wigs of racing out with the bath water from Clare!
What hogwash about role models.How many kids watch horse racing for goodnessake.How many do you believe could tell you who Kieren is.Only the corner boys and ne’r-do-well kids who play pool and back horses,smoke and drink behind the wall.Kids who will grow up like I did learning about life from the school of hard knocks.
No Mr Fistof Fury don’t judge Kieren until you have walked a mile in his shoes.You my friend give me the impression you are a tiny bit naive. Of course the people Fallon was up in court with were all as pure as the the driven coke..oops snow!
Maybe I never grew up in the hardest city in the Europe and never spent many years in MA learning to defend myself because every time you went out for a few beers some asshole would ask you "what the f*** are you looking at"
Maybe my family never had 3 houses they rented to the unemployed homeless where I lived among junkies and down and outs and saw a guy stabbed to death by an idiot on Tamazepam who thought he as in jail for breach of the peace when he woke up the next day.
Or maybe we never found our friend Tommy lying in the snow in the front garden one new years morning with his bare ass sticking up in the air, dead from drugs.
Mate I have seen things that would make your fookin hair curl up. Yet you judge me from a few word on here and tell me I should not judge an idiot like Fallon.
I saw enough in my life to know this much. The minute you pick up that needle, drop a pill or snort a line you are on the road to hell. If Fallon came from the hard school of knocks and he didn’t know that then he must be the dumbest fooka on this earth.
I am not a prude mate, I am far from it, Loved a Toke before most of the people on here new what hash was. One of my friends brought so much back from the Gambia in the late 60’s early 70’s. He supplied half the people at an open air Uriah Heep concert in Kendal right in front of the police who hadn’t a clue what it was. I used to get stoned every other day when I was in my teens.
When I started riding out the people around me were different to what I was used to and for the next 14 years I never smoke one single joint. Just wasn’t the done thing. Racing and the people in it changed my life I am glad to say.
Wild boy Fallon had a chance like I did to get away from all that crap. Everyone has a choice. He became more successful than most people could ever hope to be but he never forgot his roots. No… he took them with him right to the top then dragged the name of racing which was so kind to him straight back into the hell hole he came from.
I seldom pull my punches and don’t suffer fools gladly and if you think that what I said about Fallon and kids is hogwash the you are not only naive your an idiot. You ever seen a kid watch TV or read a newspaper?
Anyway I am of to read a sensible post as your’s is total nonsense.
Good to see we’ve retained our sense of humour (albeit a slightly dodgy one). Nice one FOF.
Better not read my post above just lost my sense of humour again
Mate I have seen things that would make your fookin hair curl up. Yet you judge me from a few word on here and tell me I should not judge an idiot like Fallon.
I saw enough in my life to know this much. The minute you pick up that needle, drop a pill or snort a line you are on the road to hell. If Fallon came from the hard school of knocks and he didn’t know that then he must be the dumbest fooka on this earth.
I am not a prude mate, I am far from it, Loved a Toke before most of the people on here new what hash was.
Albeit in your own invective-fuelled inimitable way Fister, a very good post.
Yep, the taking of ferociously addictive opiate and tropane derivatives by needle, line or even prescription are the refuge of the fool, and lead to a rapid descent into a particularly sordid hell.
I’m no prude either, nor claim the moral high ground, enjoying as I do ‘social’ drinking, nicotine, the occasional good Smoke and increasingly rare episodes of Leary/Huxley type dalliance with entheogenic hallucinogens. But far, far too ‘sensible’ to have ever been tempted by the hard stuff – ‘designer’ or otherwise. Like you I’ve seen the appalling consequences first-hand.
Uriah Heep? Easy livin’
Very ‘umble
Cocaine is not metabolically addictive.
Depends how you define ‘metabolic’. If you mean ‘physical’ changes to the body’s autonomic homeostasis which present as the overt symptoms of withdrawal associated with other drugs such as alcohol, opiates and even nicotine: shakes, sweating and pain then no it doesn’t; but cocaine (in all its forms) causes rapid, long-term and long-time irreversible changes to the brain’s biochemical pathways causing grave mood-swings, severe depression and paranoia. So these neuro-psychiatric changes may not present in a ‘physical’ manner but are, in truth, physical/metabolic changes nevertheless.
And even infrequent ‘social’ use of cocaine, particularly if taken with alcohol (reinforces the effects of both), leads to a dramatic increase in the risk of stroke, cardiac arrest and other circulatory crises.
Just say no
“The drugs test was carried out on 19 August in Deauville where Fallon, six times a champion jockey in the UK, rode Myboycharlie.”
Certain irony there really!!!
Nver mind if he losses his licence he can always make it as a singer………….Look out for "Charlie is my Darling the young Falloneer" on TOTP
Wild boy Fallon had a chance like I did to get away from all that crap. Everyone has a choice. He became more successful than most people could ever hope to be but he never forgot his roots. No… he took them with him right to the top then dragged the name of racing which was so kind to him straight back into the hell hole he came from.
In amongst a rather fun rant, that’s a really good paragraph. Unlike the usual cast-list of sporting stars who have been brought down by their dark side (Bestie, Gazza et al) it’s not just his own talent he’s been busy flushing down the toilet.
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