Overview

The Irish Times bestseller and award-winning autobiography from one of the world’s greatest and most controversial horseracing jockeys, Kieren Fallon. Kieren Fallon is one of the world’s greatest jockeys, but in addition to his many achievements, his career was marked with controversy. A British Champion Jockey six times, Kieren Fallon won more than 2,250 races—including the Derby three times, and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe twice, and quickly became one of racing’s biggest stars. He was also accused of race fixing, resulting in a trial for which he was completely cleared. No one questioned his ability in the saddle. Few, if any, have ever been as good at coaxing horses to victory. But his extraordinary rapport with horses was not matched in his dealings with humans—particularly not those in authority with whom he’s had a career-long battle. In Form, Fallon recounts his rise from a rural Irish family with no racing connections, and his frequent run-ins with the media as well as many others involved in the sport. With wit and searing honesty, he describes the huge pressures of being a jockey in the spotlight—and how his dazzling riding career was marred and then brought to a premature halt by campaigns of lies and innuendo. Entertaining, revealing, and powerful, this is a unique sports memoir from a horse racing legend.

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9781471166549

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Reviews

Form is a fascinating read for anyone interested in horse racing or the life of a jockey. * Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star * 'I've always been fascinated by Kieren Fallon; so talented and yet so damaged. So I was drawn like a moth to a flame to his recent autobiography Form. It doesn't disappoint... It has not been a life without conflict, but if you look into his haunted, hooded eyes, that does not come as a surprise. What is unexpected, however, is the insight that one gets through the Fallon prism.' -- Charlie Brooks * Daily Telegraph * 'This candid and rewarding book...career highlights are left to fight for whatever space remains after honest, expansive accounts of his various scandals... Fallon is certainly honest with himself, and that lifts Form out of the also-ran clutter of the genre and into the winner's enclosure... It's the account of a flawed individual who happens to be a genius at riding horses, as accessible as human nature itself, not simply the life story of a jockey... If it were fiction, it would be a proper page-turner, Dick Francis-esque in its delivery. The reality that this is fact, a life well lived if not always lived well, makes it even more compelling. This piece of Form is strong, solid, difficult to argue with.' -- Steve Dennis * Racing Post * 'His story gives us a graphic picture of the downside of racing at the highest level - the pressures, the 'flipping' to keep to an unrealistic weight, the travelling grind...For me the best pages are those in which he describes his riding methods, how he used his legs and his body while others used the whip. His story of Kris Kin's Derby victory is riveting.' -- Robin Oakley * Spectator * 'Brutally candid' -- Tom Richmond * Yorkshire Post * 'Fallon hasn't left any dirty washing in the laundry basket' -- Steve Dennis * Racing Post *

'Fallon hasn't left any dirty washing in the laundry basket' -- Steve Dennis * Racing Post * 'Brutally candid' -- Tom Richmond * Yorkshire Post * 'His story gives us a graphic picture of the downside of racing at the highest level - the pressures, the `flipping' to keep to an unrealistic weight, the travelling grind...For me the best pages are those in which he describes his riding methods, how he used his legs and his body while others used the whip. His story of Kris Kin's Derby victory is riveting.' -- Robin Oakley * Spectator * 'This candid and rewarding book...career highlights are left to fight for whatever space remains after honest, expansive accounts of his various scandals... Fallon is certainly honest with himself, and that lifts Form out of the also-ran clutter of the genre and into the winner's enclosure... It's the account of a flawed individual who happens to be a genius at riding horses, as accessible as human nature itself, not simply the life story of a jockey... If it were fiction, it would be a proper page-turner, Dick Francis-esque in its delivery. The reality that this is fact, a life well lived if not always lived well, makes it even more compelling. This piece of Form is strong, solid, difficult to argue with.' -- Steve Dennis * Racing Post * 'I've always been fascinated by Kieren Fallon; so talented and yet so damaged. So I was drawn like a moth to a flame to his recent autobiography Form. It doesn't disappoint... It has not been a life without conflict, but if you look into his haunted, hooded eyes, that does not come as a surprise. What is unexpected, however, is the insight that one gets through the Fallon prism.' -- Charlie Brooks * Daily Telegraph *

Author Information

Kieren Fallon was born in County Clare in Ireland in 1965, and went on to become one of flat racing's most successful jockeys of all time. He was Champion Jockey six times between 1997 and 2003, winning more than 2250 races. Among his greatest achievements was winning the Derby three times and the Arc de Triomphe twice.  

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