Kieren Fallon's association with bookmakers Victor Chandler may not be over.
Victor Chandler announced earlier this month that the firm was to sponsor the champion jockey from June 9th but on Saturday Fallon announced he was to withdraw from the agreement following concern expressed by some groups in racing about the ethics of the deal.
However, a statement issued by Victor Chandler said: 'We will honour our contract with Kieren but have mutually and voluntarily agreed that he will not be carrying the Victor Chandler name or logo during racing.'
Victor Chandler spokesman Neal Wilkins explained: 'We are obviously concerned about the pressure that has been put on Kieren by other parties despite the fact that everything we did was by the right procedure.
'So we have decided not to press him to honour the contract he signed over wearing our logos but we hope to use him for a number of corporate hospitality racedays during the course of the year and for other promotions.'
The Jockey Club has announced a review of integrity matters which could produce a rule governing the relationship between bookmakers and jockeys.
But Wilkins is confident that their new arrangement does not break any current guidelines.
'It doesn't seem to contradict anything that other jockeys are doing on the Morning Line or with Ladbrokes, William Hill and Coral.
'We haven't broken any guidelines whatsoever but we didn't want to put Kieren under any pressure so we decided to do the decent thing.
'We'll just use him in other ways on the corporate side which we hope won't offend other people, until the Jockey Club commission has made their decision.'
The statement from Victor Chandler also called for the British Horseracing Board to issue interim guidance for anyone planning deals in the near future.
It added: 'Since announcing our sponsorship of Kieren Fallon we have also been approached by several jockeys keen to follow this example, which we are considering.' - PA
