172 SAM DARLING^S REMINISCENCES 



stake. He said he would accept it on one con- 

 dition, that he returned it if Happy Bird won the 

 £1000 stake at Epsom (Foal Stake), which he did, 

 so all ended well, and I never forgot before or 

 since to confirm an entry. 



With reference to Sloan and Birkenhead, it is 



perhaps fair to add that the jockey was by no 



About means at his best that year in England, 



Sloan g^j^^ ^j-^g^^ jjg j,Q(jg infinitely better in 



later seasons. It is not for me to go into the 

 causes of this, but I think it was made clear that 

 Sloan — whatever his initial faults, through ignor- 

 ance of English decorum — did in a large measure 

 accommodate himself to the position, and was 

 going on very well indeed when his backing of his 

 own mount for the Cambridgeshire was thought 

 good enough to stop him from applying for a 

 licence the following year. Many worse things 

 have been done by jockeys. 



