ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

NZ Truth, Issue 112, 10 August 1907, Page 2

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

"Justice."— Next week. "TOD" SLOAN'S RUIN. Confessions of a Jockey. | " History of My Downfall." • "Swelled" or "big head" was the |cause of "Tod" Sloan's ruin, and he says so quite candidly m his "confessions," which he has written for "The New York World." The following extracts from this thrilling human document— it is an . open avawal of wasted opportunities and reckless extravagance m regard to a gift that amounted almost to the marvellous—will be read with great interest. "I won success. I made a fortune. I lost my position and all that it meant because I got the 'big head' That is it, and there is no use beating about the bush. No man can say I was ever dishonest. I was not retired because I was incapable. I had 400,000 dols. (£80,,000)' m cash five years ago. I have lost it through unfortunate speculation and through false friends. I laid the first brick of that fortune when I determined to act for myself. I STUDIED EVERY RACECOURSE over which I ro'rt-e. I went on foot over the track, learned the dips and the rises, and where the soil was best. There is some peculiarity a-' bout every track, and it is the jockey's business to know it. The temptations which confront a jockey are not difficult to overcome. All that is necessary is to begin with a boy who has common sense. Tell him that if he becomes a successful jockey he will have reached the highest goal for which he has set out. Fortune will be his. There are boys who are making a fortune to-day, although they have a lot to learn. The 'seat' of the American rider is superior to the old style of sitting straight m the -saddle. I was laughed at when I introduced it m England. I went there m the fall of 1897. The owners andi trainers did not take to MY STYLE OF RIDING. They even refused to let me exercise their horses. I determined to show the English jockeys a thing or two. My chance came, and I made libs best of it. I won 20 races out of 48 m my first year m England. I put into practice the things I had learned on this side. At Newmarket, instead of guiding my mount along a path which the grass made slippery, I chose a route where the footing offered resistance. I attribute the winning, of a race which was of great importance 'to me to knowledge of conditions which I had studied out. I did not believe that I was the greatest jockey m the world, although I sinoerely tried to be. I, tried to 'be great dn other ways. I thought because I was a great jockey I must bo a winner socially. That was the trouble, and it ended m my abandoning the only thing; I was good at— just being a jockey. "TOD" SLOAN LIVED HIGH. I inav be pardoned for defending, my work m the saddle. I was conscientious to the last, on the level at all times. I was never better than when I gave it up. I, never m my. life took a drink before or during the running of the races. I had sense I enough to kaow that my brain must ibe clear. Dissipation did not make irae a bad jockey by dulling: my t brain, dimming my eye. or weakening my hands. It snatched me out of the ranks while I was a topnotcher. I have no regrets tHat I lived high, because I was earning enough money for that style of living. Cut out a little of the extravagance, and I would do the same if I could have the old life back again. I saw soon after I reached England that they were running their horses with too heavy shoes. I sent to this side for 100 sets of racing plates, and the change worked wonders. English trainers stuck to their old notions, and it was not until itwo or three years a Ko that racing plates were generally adopted. In 1901 I signed a contract as first JOCKEY TO THE PRINCE OP WALES at more than 30,000 dols. (£c 000) Add to this rich presents from owners for whom I rode, and my income was enough to turn a foolish fellow's head. • I got too overblown i© eg a gißfi^yj anyj longer^ a*4 sygai

to France the following year. I had more Mian 300,000 dols. (£G0,000) cash m the Credit Lyonnais alone, and about 100,000 dols. (£20,000) mi n cash and gilt-edged securities m baiaks. My luck turned when I went back on my jockeyship. I continued to be fairly successful as an owner and trainer, but other things went wrong. My transactions on the. turf were always honorable, but the Jockey Club of France, laboring under an honest misapprehension, ruled against me. I continued my extravagant manner of living, with apartments at the Palace Hotel. This increased the feeling against me. It wasn't what a jockey should have done. RESULT OF PUBLIC CLAMOR. The Vicom.te de St. Phaile came to me the day before the running of the Prix de Diane and said that • 'his mare, Rose de Mais, was coughing. I sounded the mare and advised that she be started m the race, and instructed Lester Reiff not to exert her at tfos finish m case she was troubled seriously by the cough. The ailment dad not trouble her, and she won. She opened m the betting at 2to 1, and drifted v iback to 15, which was proof that there was no play on her. I did not bet a centime, nor did the Vicomte or his friends. But the public set up a clamor that there had been a deception, and the officials denied me the privileges of the jockey - room;.- I was never warned off the turf either m France or England. That,- -in, brief,, is. the history of my downfall', which dates back to the day that I ceased bein* a jockey."