AUSTRALIA'S leading racing steward told the Old Bailey yesterday that he could not understand why six-times champion jockey Kieren Fallon lost a race that he had been winning.

Ray Murrihy said he had viewed film of the controversial race in which Ballinger Ridge lost after having had a huge lead.

He said there was no reason why Fallon, who had a "commanding lead" with only a furlong to go, had slowed and "given an easy passage" to the horse that overtook him.

Mr Murrihy said: "I am in no doubt he should have won. It was a quite extraordinary ride."

The horse slowed "dramatically" and lost momentum after Fallon appeared to drop his hands.

Mr Murrihy, the chief steward of Australia, has been called as a prosecution witness in the £2m racing-fixing trial.

The court has heard that Fallon said he was giving Ballinger Ridge a "breather", not realising how close the other horses were during the Lingfield race, in March 2004.

But the prosecution alleges he allowed the horse to slow because he was involved in the plot with two other jockeys to let horses lose so a betting syndicate could win money.

Jockeys Kieren Fallon, 42, formerly of Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, but now of Tipperary, Ireland, Fergal Lynch, 29, of Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and Darren Williams, 29, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, deny conspiracy between December 2002 and August 2004.

Shaun Lynch, 38, of Belfast, Miles Rodgers, 38, of Silkstone, South Yorkshire, and Philip Sherkle, 42, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, also plead not guilty.

Rodgers also denies concealing the proceeds of crime. All the defendants are on bail.

The case continues.