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MELBOURNE - There was a horrendous din when someone knocked over a large potplant as Kieren Fallon walked out of the chairman's room at the Melbourne Cup barrier draw high on the Flemington grandstand on Saturday night.
The Irish horseman did not bother to turn around.
Perhaps it
was because in his entire life, not once has Fallon looked over his shoulder.
If he had, he almost certainly would not be what he is today, regarded by many to be the world's finest jockey.
Regardless of the low points in his life, and there have been many, Fallon has put his head down, and forward, and tried to apply himself to doing what he does better than almost anyone, getting expensive thoroughbreds to the winning post before the opposition.
Life has never been easy for Fallon.
A terrible temper and a serious social drinking habit cost him dearly.
Both have disappeared.
He has been teetotal for several years and says he can these days control his temper.
Racing's former European bad boy today looks out from behind much clearer eyes and the peace seems to be there at last - unlike the early days when he was banned for six months for famously pulling fellow rider Stuart Webster out of the saddle as he was pulling up after a race and later allegedly punching him in the jockeys' room.
Later he was stable jockey for master trainer Henry Cecil.
The Cecil marriage blew up amid allegations his wife had had sex with a jockey.
No one was named, but the same week Cacil sacked Fallon.
The late Lord Carnarvon, racing manager for the Queen, was once bitterly critical of one of Fallon's rides.
When Fallon politely asked how many winners Carnarvon had ridden, the Queen suddenly had a new jockey.
Almost everyone was heralding the end of Fallon's career when a shoulder and upper arm was badly galloped on in a race fall a few years ago. That he has come back to such devastating form staggered many people.
Regardless of what Fallon has endured, he has never let it bury him.
He says he doesn't miss the booze.
"Drinking is a bad habit," he told journalists a year after giving up.
"You can drink and ride and get away with it, what you can't do is ride to the best of your ability."
"I'm feeling better without it. Things that would upset me before don't seem to bother me now. I'm enjoying everything a lot more."
Like riding horses as good as A$5 million ($5.7 million) Melbourne Cup topweight and joint favourite Yeats tomorrow.
The intensity in Fallon's eyes is remarkable, which probably says a lot about his riding style.
He is not the typical European jockey. He can electrify a horse like only a handful of jockeys through the years have been able to.
At times, generally when it matters most, the resolve that has guided his life seems transposed into his mounts, who pick themselves up and give more.
The former boxing champion doesn't bully horses; he insists in a different way and gets better results.
Godolphin's No 1 jockey Frankie Dettori, Fallon's golfing mate in the UK, has ridden, unsuccessfully, in 10 Melbourne Cups.
The pair might swap golf stories but could not be more different astride a horse.
Dettori rides on a long rein with hands of silk and superb balance.
Fallon, riding more like an Australian, combines finesse with a tough edge. Attitude with benevolence.
When he presses the button, horses come alive.
If Dettori is Andrea Bocelli, Fallon is Billy Joel.
Most European jockeys are one dimensional, regardless of how talented they are, and don't generally create good press in Australia.
Fallon is multi-talented. Whatever it takes to get the job done tomorrow, he will produce.
He is polite and co-operative, but there is a wariness just under the surface.
He is on edge around journalists since two News Of The World journos, posing as Arab sheikhs, fooled him a couple of years ago with a tall tale about wanting to create a business opportunity.
They got Fallon's confidence and wrote a hurtful piece, which embarrassed the Irishman and his family.
He seems to appreciate that the media in this part of the world seem more interested in things like what might win the Melbourne Cup and admits he will get a big kick if it's him.
Yeats is not an everyday horse. Everyone agrees he is supreme when in top form, but his career form is patchy. He and his rider seem well matched.
