Former champion jockey Kieren Fallon, who is rebuilding his life in Dubai as he continues treatment for depression, has revealed his regret at not retiring from the saddle sooner.
Fallon has enjoyed a new lease of life since reuniting with Godolphin trainer Saeed Bin Suroor as a work rider after retiring last July, but admitted that fear of life post-retirement – and witnessing the untimely demises of a number of his near-contemporaries – resulted in him extending his career longer than he had envisioned.
"When you stop riding you think your whole world ends,” the 51-year-old told the Racing Post.
“Thinking of all the boys, I'm not very far behind Pat Eddery, Walter Swinburn, Mark Birch, Lindsay Charnock, people I was riding with, how quick they can go. You have to try to look after yourself.
"You're working every day, seven days a week from five in the morning until midnight, then it all stops. I was riding longer than I should have been. I should have retired years ago. But I knew if I did I'd struggle. That's why I kept going, kept trying to grasp on to something.”
"I wouldn't say I'm out of the woods yet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel."
Clearly thriving under Dubai’s brilliant sunshine as Meydan’s season cracks up a notch, a chipper Fallon added: “I've been out here since early November and I'm really enjoying it. I'm still going on with my treatment, but the main thing is I'm enjoying my work. I love riding in the mornings and golf in the afternoons.
"I'm trying to get on with what we have at the moment. Saeed has always been very good to me. I've ridden a lot of nice winners for him and he was always easy to ride for.
"I'm here now and he was a great help to me when I needed him most. Winters in Newmarket aren't what I enjoy.”
Having wrestled with the prospect of what retirement would hold, Fallon insisted that he was now at peace with the decision.
Asked if he had come to terms with calling time on riding, Fallon replied: "Yes, I have. I love doing my work in the morning. It's what I want to do. As it was, I was struggling to ride in the evenings anyway. In the end it was a disaster when you watch the replay. I could see it for a long time but you just wait and hope.
"I'm getting on with it, trying to move on. You miss that rollercoaster when it stops, but things are going great. I wouldn't say I'm out of the woods yet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel."
