Jockey Fallon contests 18-month ban

PARIS, France -- Jockey Kieren Fallon will appeal against an 18-month ban imposed by the French racing authorities.

He was suspended by France Galop after testing positive for a banned substance following a race at Deauville in August 2007.

The six-time champion jockey's B-test sample confirmed the original positive test for a banned substance.

The hearing was held at France Galop's headquarters in Paris on Wednesday and the verdict announced on Friday.

Fallon failed the test after Myboycharlie's success in the Group One Darley Prix Morny on August 19. He had previously served a six-month ban imposed by France Galop for testing positive for a metabolite of cocaine in June 2006.

Henri Pouret, the head of rulebook and stewards' secretariat department at France Galop, announced: "The jockey Kieren Fallon has been suspended for a period of 18 months. However, he has already appealed and that is the reason why no statement has been issued by France Galop.

"Now our appeal commission at France Galop will meet and will examine the appeal."

Pouret said that a date for the appeal had not yet been fixed." Usually a suspension will start nine days after the decision has been announced, but seeing that the person in question has appealed, those dates could change," he explained.

Pouret added: "In France each decision is reached individually. There are no rules in our rulebook that say a jockey has to be suspended 18 months for having failed a test a second time."

Fallon is licensed in Ireland, but the French suspension would apply worldwide. E-mail to a friend