TOD SLOAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 304, 26 December 1933, Page 5

TOD SLOAN.

THE 'MONKEY GROUCH ,

GREAT HORSEMAN'S HEY-DAY.

«WAITING IN FRONT."

(By H.A.8.)

So Tod Sloan is dead. His last published photograph, as reproduced in the "Star," typified the little mail's! character. There was no mistaking that | bold, cocksure expression, the hat cocked at a rakish angle, and the cigar held firmly in a corner of the mouth. One may be sure that the hat, suit and tie | were the "very latest," and that the cigar was an expensive one. Probably Tod had left the band on till the very | last minute. He was like that. j With Tod's passing, the turf lost a I colourful personality if ever there was one. The writer once handled a pair of guna which were, specially built for Sloan in his palmy days, for use in pigeon shooting at Monte Carlo. They-] were beautifully made, with plenty of i ornamentation, ornate engraving on the j , locks and forehand, and mother of pearl | I inlay in the highly-polished stocks. They would be; they were Tod's. Incidentally, these guns cost the best part of 200 guineas. They sold for a "song" when \ poor Tod was compelled to get rid of his j valuable possessions, and they' passed ; eventually into the hands of an English | farmer. I Tod "did things in style," as the lads j of the village, "circa 1900, would havei expressed it. He shared with Fred Archer and other notabilities of the world of sport a love of display and ostentation. Not that he was a shoTd; he had too many friends, some alas, false friends, and like many another in his profession he was easily flattered and often led astray. Be that as it may, he left an indelible mark on the sporting history of his time. It is perhaps too much to say that he revolutionised race riding, but he certainly -introduced a 1 more drastic change' in ri'dihg methods

than any, before or since his day. The forward seat was bound to come, in fact the trend was unmistakably that way among the younger school of jockeys, but Sloan carried it further than the furthest had dreamed. He made every post a winning post. He "waited in front." It was, literally a "monkey crouch,' , . just the same,sort of attitude as may be seen in a performing monkey on the back of a dog in a circus. Possibly Sloan j overdid it a trifle at times, but he liad balance and an extraordinary "way with him" so far as horses were concerned. He was a natural, if not an 'uncanny ! horseman. He certainly wove his spell lover a horse when he threw his leg across i its withers. Sometimes lie wove it] beforehand, as witness the case ofj ! Valens, a big bay horse belonging to | JLord Carnarvon, with plenty of speed I and staying power, but cursed with a vile temper. Sloan asked permission to dismount, from the bucking, plunging brute at the starting gate. This was granted | I by' Mr. Coventry, and Sloan seized the j i reins short, close up to the horse's head, and gave him one or two clouts across the face with his whip. Drastic treat-1 i ment possibly, but Valens promptly j [changed his mind about giving trouble and went to the tapes "like an old sheep." Getting away nicely, he won in stylish fashion —and at a good betting price. A Typical "Sloan Day." The forward seat met with immediate success, and even suclj "die-hards" of the old style as Mornington Cannon, i Rickaby, and Allsopp grudgingly ad- ! mitted that there was "something in it." Here is the official record of Saturday, j November 27, 1897, when Sloan wae in j his first season on the English turf: — First race (six furlongs), Sloan first on Manxman. Second race (live furlongs), Sloan first, on Le Javelot. Third race, Sloan did not ride. Fourth race (live fur- i longs'), Sloan first on Martha IV. Fifth I race (one mile six furlongs), Sloan second] on Keen ah. Sixth race (one mile and a j quarter), Sloan first, on Bavelaw Caetle. | Four winners and a second in five rides. Here's another day, in 1899, when Tod was at his zenith, when the crack jockeys of the ' time, including Otto Madden, ] the brothers Kempton and Mornington ] Cannon, Lester Reiff, Sam Loates and i Fred Rickaby were also in their prime. ] Five winners and a second. There were c big bets on Korosko, Manatee and 1 Grievance that day at Newmarket, and 1 Sloan duly obliged, in addition to land- 1

ing a coup on Siloah in the Soltykoff Stakes. Sloan's was a meteoric career, brief but brilliant. He had three great seasons and then got into trouble, and was warned off the English turf for life. That sentence was never repealed. Tod suffered the stings and arrows of outrageous fortune in later years, for he had an unhappy knack of getting into trouble. Hβ once * declared, with cynical wit, that j when he was a lad his mother used, to say to the domestic help: "Go and see j what Tod's doing, and tell him not to, I whatever it is!" The little man dryly added: "It's been like that with me ever since." I So he passes over, and there' is severed i a link with the great days of the turf. ! It is something to have seen him at his best, and boyhood's recollections are vivid. May Tod have many a h#ppy gallop in the Klysian Fields, where surely the great ones amongst horses and horsemen ought to be found.