8o TOM CANNON 



Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth ? What indeed ! 

 All know this style. It is wonderful to behold. 

 Leaning as far back as his arms can reach, with 

 face buried in his horse's mane, riding with the 

 shortest possible stirrups. Tod Sloan made the 

 pace throughout. No ! we are slightly inaccurate. 

 For, when closely watching him, we saw that at 

 the starting-post he got away like a flash of 

 lightning, and, until three-quarters of the distance 

 had been covered, his long lead was usually main- 

 tained. By then Sloan's mount was caught and 

 apparently beaten, for his horse dropped back, 

 until it was only within the first three. " A 

 change comes o'er the spirit of the race ! " In an 

 incredible manner Tod Sloan again led. Amid 

 whip-flourishing, spurring, and frantic efforts from 

 the English jockeys behind him, the clever Yankee 

 landed his mount a winner much in the same way 

 as a quarter-of-a-mile sprinter, having run his 

 race like a hundred-yards runner, eased for a few 

 seconds before gathering himself together in order 

 to make the winning rush on nearing the tape. 

 This crouched-up fashion of riding is considered 

 by Sloan's admirers to be the highest known pitch 

 of flat-race horsemanship, because it distributes 

 the weight. 



Is the hideous style, with outstretched arms, 

 hands close to bit, and laughably short stirrups 

 an improvement upon the graceful horsemanship 

 of the elder Cannon and the method successfully 

 practised by Fred Archer? Or, in other words, 

 were our greatest English jockeys at fault, and is 

 the Sloan method right ? Prejudice and patriotism 



