ENGLISH RACING

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 34, 21 January 1933, Page 3

ENGLISH RACING

DEATH OF CHAMPION RIDER. London, Dec. 7. Regret will be felt at the news of the death, which occurred at his home, Middleton Cottage, Newmarket, on Saturday last, of Sam Loates, who, as jockey and trainer, left his mark on the turf. Sam Loates, who was 68 years of age, was apprenticed to the late Tom Cannon, and gained his first big success on Hackness in the Cambridgeshire Handicap of 1882. Seven years later he was champion jockey with 160 winning mounts, and in after years he frequently topped the century. He rode Harvester when he dead-lieated with St. Gatien in the Derby of 1884, and eleven years later rode Sir Visto to victory in the Epsom classic.

These classic successes were by no means isolated, for he rode Disraeli and Nun Nicer to victory in 1898 in the Two Thousand and One Thousand Guineas respectively. He won the One Thousand Guineas again in 1900 on Winifreda, and live years earlier took the Oaks on La Sagesse. Other noteworthy victories were gained on The Solicitor in the Royal Hunt Cup in 1902: Merry Duchess in the City and Suburban (.1887); Biserta (1883), Merry Prince (1885), and Count

Schomberg (1897) in the Chester Cup; Parlington in the Manchester November Handicap (1890); Quillon in the Ebor Handicap (1894), and Tom Cringle in the Ascot Stakes in 1899. WON BY A NECK. Loates was at the height of his career when Tod Sloan was carrying all before him in this country.

The pair rode in a match at Gatwick in which two notoriously bad horses were the contestants. Loates was on Rowanberry and Sloan rode Shepperton. The American jockey was the famous exponent of the crouching seat, and in this match Loates shortened his leathers and took on Sloan at his own game.

Odds of 6 to 5 were betted on Shepperton, and a thoroughly desperate race was the result, Loates getting his mount home by a neck. Loates once said that Cyllcne was the best horse ho ever rode. After the combination had won the Ascot Gold Cup in 1899 Loates said: “He could have gone round again. He is not a horse, he is a steam engine.” Two serious accidents in 1901 shortened Loates’s riding career. He was badly injured when a man ran across the track at the Northampton Autumn Meeting of that year, bringing down his mount, Nateby, and two others, and he gave up race-riding in 1903. Sam then took up training, and at one period had charge of the late Mr. Sol Joel’s horses. In 1919 he trained the winners of 34 races to the value of £ll,BOO.