One of flat racing's all-time great horsemen, admired by luminaries such as Lester Piggott and Pat Eddery, the promising jockey left County Clare in his native Ireland in 1988 to join trainer Jimmy FitzGerald's stable near Malton.

The pair forged an instant rapport, the young rider's first victory in Britain coming aboard the FitzGerald-trained Evichstar at Thirsk in 1988.

It was for a pitifully small sum in comparison to the millions that he would later win in prize money.

And no racegoer present could have predicted that Mr Fallon would become one of the sport's biggest names; he was just another journeyman rider trying their luck in the most unpredictable and uncompromising of sports knowing that only a very few would forge a successful career.

His took off in 1993 when he switched to the then trainer Lynda Ramsden's yard in North Yorkshire.

He soon became one of the most successful jockeys in the North, his weighing room colleagues such as George Duffield spotting the true extent of the Irishman's potential that was to bring about three memorable victories in the Epsom Derby – still the defining event of British flat racing.

Shy and quietly-spoken away from racing, the rising star was still vulnerable to moments of hot-headedness. He was suspended for six months in 1994 after pulling rival rider Steve Webster off his horse after a heated race at Beverley.

Off the track a year later, he successfully sued the Sporting Life, together with Mrs Ramsden and her gambler husband Jack, after their horse Top Cees had won the prestigious Chester Cup by five lengths at generous of odds of 8-1.

The paper had falsely claimed that Top Cees had been deliberately held up in his prep race three weeks earlier so that the odds available at Chester would lengthen.

Given this backdrop, many in racing were stunned when he moved to Newmarket in 1997 to become stable jockey to Henry Cecil, the then champion trainer.

It was a move that catapulted the horseman into the big-time – the first of six jockeys' championships, countless Classic winners across Europe as he became the man to beat in all the top races, in particular those at York and Doncaster.

Yet, unlike other big-name jockeys who simply crave the major meetings, Mr Fallon appeared to relish lowly races on wet Wednesdays at Pontefract, for example, as much as lining up for the Derby.

"You could always tell, from when he first arrived, that he had plenty of ability; it was a question of how much," said former jockey George Duffield, now an assistant trainer at his wife Ann's stables at Constable Burton near Leyburn.

"The ironic thing about Kieren is that he always seemed to court controversy. Yet, unlike most, he did not panic. The more you threw at him, the better he rode.

"When he gets on a horse, he blanks out everything going on around him. he has been like that from day one."

Mr Duffield was surprised at the extent to which his former weighing room rival was implicated in the race-fixing trial.

Central to the failed prosecution was Mr Fallon's riding of Ballinger Ridge at Lingfield in 2004 when he lost a 10-length lead after dropping his hands and was narrowly beaten.

"It's the cardinal sin of racing," said Mr Duffield. "But it's happened to many of us – myself included. All you want is for the ground to open and swallow you up.

"It happens. You don't want the horse to win so easily that he is penalised by the handicapper in the next race. Jockeys are only human, like the rest of us. It's just that the mistakes get noticed when things go wrong."

He said that it was so typical of Mr Fallon's nervelessness that he should win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe – the middle-distance championship of Europe – on Dylan Thomas less than 24 hours before standing trial at the Old Bailey.

"Tunnel vision. That's what stands Kieren Fallon apart from the rest," added Mr Duffield.

It is impossible to say how much Mr Fallon has lost in earnings since he was banned from racing in the UK in July 2006. He may have won races that his replacement rider lost – or vice versa.

Mr Fallon has, however, been able to continue racing in his native Ireland, and most other countries.

Throughout, the jockey received the unstinting support of top trainer Aidan O'Brien, his main employer, and top breeder John Magnier who owns many of the horses at O'Brien's world-famous Ballydoyle stables.

They had no hesitation asking Mr Fallon to ride Dylan Thomas to victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on the eve of the Old Bailey trial.

And he would have ridden the bulk of the O'Brien team's victories in Britain this year that saw him become champion trainer.

In doing so, the rider would have received one tenth of the £3.5m won by the trainer in prize money on top of his lucrative annual retainer – widely reputed to be a six-figure sum – that contractually commits the rider to riding Mr O'Brien's horses. Jockeys are also paid about £100 per race.

Yet Mr Fallon's long-time agent David Pollington, who lives in Pickering, North Yorkshire, says winning major races – or the prize money involved – has never been his client's major motivation.

"He got as much a kick out of winning a race at Catterick than he would winning the Epsom Derby," said Mr Pollington.

"He just has a gift of getting the best out of his horses. I just don't understand why the authorities, and the police, chose not to see this."

Mr Pollington became the rider's agent in 1988 on the recommendation of their mutual friend Jimmy Fitzgerald. He has been by the rider's side throughout his career highs – and lows.

"People don't know the real Kieren Fallon," he told the Yorkshire Post. "He's very unassuming; the complete opposite to a flamboyant and extrovert rider like Frankie Dettori.

"Kieren doesn't like the limelight; he lets his riding do the talking. But he is also very generous; it's not all about prize money. He will go out of his way to offer advice to a younger jockey coming through the ranks.

"He just wanted to clear his name and resume his career in full. Kieren's a great fellow – always has been – who just wants to ride horses and winners."