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SLOANS RIDING ADVENTURE [ » i » American Jockeys Experiences in I His English Racing Foray. ♦ .i Day at Manchester with Four Winners " — Grand National Jumps — Forfarshire -Democrat Race. » 9 In his story of racing adventure in F.ncland Tod Slo:in tells seme incident* of jcreat interest i wliicli :ire worth reproduction. Of Iiir pi-eat day of * riding at Manchester, in the autumn of 1897, the e American rider gossips this way: At Manchester came the biggest thing I had done e in Kngland. On Thursday I won on Bavelaw Castle e in he Hothschild Date. On Friday I got Sapling g home in a big field for the Kllesmere Welter: I had d been on bim at Liverpool and had wen on bim n there, too. When I went out to the old New Barnes •s track on the Saturday it was raining and the going g heavy. I had only one idea in my head — to get •t away to London after racing was over, for I was is going to Paris and to Monte Carlo. I would have gone anywhere to get out of such weather! I was is thankful that it was the last day of the season. l. That Saturday afternoon crowd rather astonished d me. and some of them laughed at me as the crowd °* had done the first time I was seen at Newmarket. Little did I think what was waiting me later r on that afternoon as I cantered down to the post i* on Captain Machells Manxman for the Farewell II Handicap. There was a field of fourteen. I got 5 the run of tlicin and won it. I heard afterward 1 the horse had been well backed. In Jhe next race 1 1 was on a favorite. William Clarks Jje .Tavelot, !; and I was expected to win. They gave me a bit 2 of a cheer as I won it. I wasnt riding in the next :l race. Then came the Saturday Welter, with a a field of t weu ty two. Neither the weather nor the 10 mud could shake my confidence: we slopped along ,g and at the distance I felt I had them all whipp-d. The mare I was riding. Martha IV. she was called, seemed to like me and I got there. That black k ma«s of ]»eople set up a roar when I passed the * post. Lord William was delighted and I had to dodge the people who wanted to pat me on the 10 li:nk. I n de Keeniin in the November Handicap, ? but couldnt beat Asterie. which was better class. Then followed the Final Plate and I rode Bavelaw * Castle, which I had won on two days before. I knew exactly what to do and made the horse to ? put in his liest. but I hadnt seen one or two which n were thought to be dangerous. You get. however. into a kind of feeling that yon must win when " vou have begun, and Bavelaw Castle had to do it. l- Ue did. FOUR WINS AND A SECOND. Four wins and a second: I didnt get a swollen |J In ad that day: that I can say. whatever happened !z to me Ix-fore or after. My only idea was to dress ■ Hiickly and to get into a cab. but it wa-nt so io r:isy. It looked a bit dangerous, in fact, for they ,v wcre waiting there in the hundreds and thousands j„ cither to shake my hand or pat me on the back or J to grab a souvenir. All 1he stories I had read as a kid about those who used to wait just to touch % ; John L. Sullivan came back to me: Kd Gaines and If I went out to look for the cab. but it was impossible s- to get at it. The crowd was closing in. Gaines face was as white as a sheet: he thought t we would be trampled on. At last they got a dozen ■ policemen, who formed a square around us. All the le same I should have liked to shake hands with a few of them. I should have riskeil having all the io breath pressed out of me and I was such a little ,e fellow that I might have been dead while they were N looking for me on the floor. However, there ii it was: I was the proudest kid in England ir America that day. Apart altogether from what I had done 5 before I had just made good in England and let them know that there was such a jockey as Sloan. All the way back to London I heard that crowd id calling to "me— "Tod," "Toddie." "Sloanie," "Sloan." and everything they could twist my name le into. In that short month I had forty-eight mounts and won twenty -one r:ices. Lord William sent MC ie immediately a splendid gold cigarette case with th the name- of the four Manchester winners engraved i on it and the second. Keenan. On the other side 1*" was a reproduction of his own writing. 1 confess that it ended in that serious complaint. r- "swollen head." At the MUM time it was not mi 11 natural at my age to lie a bit fresh when I had " actually shown those wi.o had laughed at me and 1,1 who didnt believe in me that I could do something e" they couldnt. SURPRISED AT BIG JUMPS. A novelty to me in I.ngland «.is 1 lie sight of the tie steeplechase jockeys at Liver|Hiol. I saw them for 0 the first time at the Liverpool Autumn meeting. g. I had never seen cross country riders so tall and u! big. I didnt know any of them, but I didnt let ■* that prevent my staring. Not one of them offered •d to make friends with me. Perhaps they looked upon ,,. me as ■ curiosity, a kind of monkey. lu the ,l. morning I had gone out on the course and had a ., look at the fences. It was all so mImm] that it il almost took my breath away. Of course the jumps |,s were greater :ind stiffer than anwthing I hail ever cr secu in America. It was in the Craud Sefton 1 I first saw them. To see the horses going out into to the count rj looking as if they were ne»er coming ,;. home again is the greatest sporting living picture r. imaginable. I didnt k«T« a chance of seeing the „. Urand National till ISilfl. That, of course, was ls, more wonderful still. I never look a dring when I was riding until til racing «as over for the dav . This self-imposed ft inle was never broken during the whole of my iy career in England and for years eKewhere. not „*t even under what might be called really necessary conditions. One case in particular that I recall was at flt Kempton Park— in UM — when I met with an in accident through Mr. Sol Joes Latherwheel rearing r- up and falling hack on me in the paddock k 1 had shouted out to the boy to loose his head. d- but he wouldnt or didnt hear me. and I was JJ crushed under him. The horse tried his best to get off mc with the true instinct of the thoroughbred not to do injury. At last he got clear. If I had ,,1 not known how to rcspirate I shouldnt have had 1l any life left in mc. As it WM when they came l0 to examine me tiny found tl:at my pelvis was injured. d. Tin- racecourse surgeon put the joint back in the lie socket and as 1 laid there the doctor said that at 1 h:nl "better have a little neat brandy." "I will— after racing." I replied. Lord William, who was standing near— he had , nunc lo see how I was— immediately broke in with: i: "Youve done with racing for today." "Then whos to ride Oemocrut?" I asked. "I shall put Cannon up." he answered. DEMOCRAT AND FORFARSHIRE. "No. I am gong to ride Democrat." I replied. d I think if any other jockey had been mentionel ol I should have been c ntent to lie tlere. lint a- it t was I got up soon after without the brandy. The lc next race was for two-year-olds. Forfarshire was as in the field. I was only beaten a head. L rd rd William always thought it was my unfit condition un after the injury which cost him the race, but I can ,n confidently say that it was the best race I ever er rode in my life. What is more. Forfarshire had id twenty-eight pounds in hand that day. but he was as messed :,hout a bit in the race by a horse ridden by Madden. Sam Liates. who rode Forfarshire, e, blamed ine for it afterward and there looked like being a fight, but— leave it at that. Ixird William m always had too great an opinion of Democrat. As s a matter of fact he was a very ordinary horse, ie. anil 1 am sure that had a jockey of the old-fashioned h- school ridden him on that day he wouldnt 1t have been in the first six. I am not taking too oo great credit for myself in saying this, for if a a rider like Johnny Beiff or Frank ONeill or Milton on Henry had been up they would very likely have done ta as well as I did. Later on. by the way. Democrat at was given to Lord Kitchener for a charger. The lie next race that day was a two mile or a two mile ile and a quarter affair — I forget which — and the doctor, c- Lord William aud others weie all furious at at a a on ta at The lie ile c- at at my attempting to ride. But I had my way and 1 won the race, all the time suffering such tor- tures as 1 never had known before. Altogether that I day I won three races — without brandy, mind you. I I However. I was paid out for my foolhardiuess by | being kept in bed for eight days.
