Kieren Fallon put an iron grip on the jockeys' championship with a power-packed treble at York on Saturday, but will not accept that the title is in safe-keeping until it is impossible for him to be caught.

The three-timer on Avonbridge, Talbot Avenue and Blue Star was a demonstration of his sheer strength and will-to-win.

Fallon took his score to 135 during the confines of the turf season, which determines the championship, and he has drawn 16 ahead of Richard Hughes, but in essence his lead is only 14.

A four-timer at Pontefract on Monday was followed by doubles at Catterick on Tuesday and York on Thursday, and a single back on the Knavesmire on Friday made it a round dozen for the week.

But he said: ''It looks as if I am going to lose two wins I had on Elusive City," referring to the fact that prohibited substances were found in routine tests on the Gerard Butler-trained colt after he had won at Lingfield and Goodwood.

''I have a decent lead but if I can ride a dozen winners in a week then Richard or Seb (Sanders) could as well, so you just never know in this game. I will only be happy when they definitely can't catch me - but I would rather be 14 in front than 14 behind!''

The campaign ends on November 9, and there are 24 days left on which there is Flat racing, but the four-times champion will be absent on four of those as he is due to partner Golan at the Breeders' Cup meeting in Chicago on Saturday week.

After Blue Star had prevailed to complete his three-timer, Fallon explained: ''I will be going out to Arlington on the Wednesday before the Breeders' Cup, so the bigger the lead I can get before I leave the better it will be.

''I have never ridden there, so I want to get as much experience of the course as I can on the Thursday, on the turf and the dirt tracks, and hopefully get a race ride or two on the Friday.''

Golan's stable companion Islington is also a possible Breeders' Cup contender, and Fallon went on: ''Richard is in America this weekend so that gave me a chance to get a few more in front and I am not sure what his Breeders' plans are.''

Fallon had conceded at the start of the month that winners are usually hard to come by at this stage of a season, so he has been delighted by this welcome purple patch at a vital time.

He went on: ''Things have gone well enough overall, but I have not been putting threes and fours together as much as I was last season and I would have been very happy to get one winner a day this month.

''Anything more was always going to be a bonus, so to have a four-timer at Pontefract on Monday when my book of rides did not look that promising has been a big help.''

Fallon finished last of four on Foretold in the concluding EBF Shirley Heights Maiden Stakes on Saturday, and his hunger for winners had not been satisfied by the earlier treble. As he returned mud-splattered to the weighing-room, he said with a wry smile: ''I could have ridden the winner instead.''

* Yavana's Pace, who this year became the oldest horse to win a Group One race, is on the verge of retirement after sustaining an injury on his latest start.

The ten-year-old gelding damaged a suspensory ligament and although recovering he is now with his owner.

Commenting on the injury, which was picked up when Yavana's Pace ran third in the Canadian International at Woodbine at the end of last month, his trainer Mark Johnston said: ''His owner was thinking about retirement anyway.

''If the horse is retired he will go out after giving us one of our greatest moments in racing and it's been a privilege to train him.''

Zindabad, who finished fifth in the Canadian race, will not run again this season and is being trained for the Sheema Classic in Dubai.

It is also on the cards that Zindabad will remain with Johnston next year.

Johnston added: ''We were a little disappointed with his run at Woodbine but since coming back home he's been fine.