FORMER champion jockey Kieren Fallon was accused yesterday of taking part in a plot to throw races for a crooked betting syndicate at the start of his corruption trial at the Old Bailey.

Businessman Miles Rodgers bet £2.12m on various internet accounts that 27 horses would lose.

The horses were ridden by Fallon and two North Yorkshire-based jockeys Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams.

Jonathan Caplan, QC, prosecuting, said Rodgers had been tipped off by the riders before the races.

Seventeen of the horses were ridden by Fallon, the six times champion jockey, who stood in the dock the day after winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe race in France.

But Fallon still won five of the races, losing the syndicate about £500,000, said Mr Caplan.

The wins included one on the Queen's horse, Daring Aim. This was said to have cost the crooks £138,000, the court was told.

After the race at Newmarket, on July 23, 2004, there was an exchange of text messages between Fallon and Philip Sherkle, said to be the go-between.

Fallon, the court heard, said: "They will take my licences off me if they drift like that last night. They are watching me."

An undated message from Fallon to Sherkle read: "No I can't chance it."

Mr Caplan said Rodgers' records showed Fallon's losses for the syndicate were £436.579.

Angered by Fallon's wins, Rodgers - who was thought to be working for a group of backers in Spain - tried to confront him, said Mr Caplan.

But in August 2004, Fallon, according to Rodgers, had sought to find a way of squaring the loss that he had caused by his unexpected wins.

At the end of his three-month winning spell, Rodgers agreed to alter his way of working with Fallon by identifying horses he could stop in "handicap" races, it was alleged.

Jockey Fergal Lynch, whose brother Shaun was also said to have acted as an intermediary in the conspiracy, allegedly rode in six of the rigged races, winning only once and making a profit of £5,000 for the syndicate.

His co-defendant, Williams, rode in four races, losing each time and making the crooks £55,000, the court was told.

Mr Caplan said there was no evidence that Fallon ever received any money or benefited from Rodgers or anyone else connected with the conspiracy.

But it was the prosecution case that he held himself accountable for losses that cost the conspirators about £500,000 and was "clearly involved for reward".

Rodgers was betting up to £100,000 knowing that the jockey "was prepared to cheat by using tactics to stop the horse if it was likely to win", said Mr Caplan. He said the case was based partly on bugged conversations from Rodgers' Mercedes car and the car park of his Italian restaurant with Fergal Lynch, Philip Sherkle and others.

There were also text messages found on mobile phones and a pattern of phone calls and betting on the online betting exchange, Betfair.

Fallon stood in the dock with the other accused to hear the charges read to the jury.

It alleged they were involved in a conspiracy with others between December 2002 and September 2004 to defraud Betfair customers and other punters.

Fallon, 42, formerly of Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, but now of Tipperary, Ireland, Fergal Lynch, 29, of Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and Williams, 29, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, deny the charges.

Shaun Lynch, 37, of Belfast, former racing syndicate director Rodgers, 38, of Silkstone, South Yorkshire, and Sherkle, 42, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, also pleaded not guilty.

Rodgers also denies concealing the proceeds of crime.

Mr Caplan said of the alleged fraud: ''It is unusual because it is also concerned with sport and any allegation of fraud in that context obviously undermines the integrity of the sport in question.''

He described how Fergal Lynch bought a four-wheel drive BMW X5 vehicle and was "boldly prepared to try and stop three horses" at Ripon in August 2004 to pay for it.

He lost the first and last, but won on the second horse, Familiar Affair.

The court heard a recording of a phone call before the third race, in which Rodgers tells Lynch: "You cannot make a mistake."

Jurors were shown surveillance footage of Williams emerging from a pub in the same month, following a meeting with Rodgers, with a white envelope.

When he was arrested the next day, £520 cash was found at his home, and a white envelope was stuffed under his mattress.

The trial was adjourned until later today.