TOD SLOAN 



I must also discuss how from close observation and 

 from constant visits to the starting-post I made sure 

 in my own mind that I could get a start and beat well- 

 known English jockeys. 



It's right here that I want to give the exact reason 

 for ever leaving America, and how it came about. 

 All the details of my arrival and early sorrows and joys 

 will be told in due order. In the winter of 1896- 

 1897 the late Tom Loates, who, as everyone knows, 

 was one of the English crack jockeys, came out to 

 New York for a vacation and to have a rest for a time. 

 He was a good deal about with Jack Macdonald, the 

 poor fellow who was killed in a railway accident at 

 Salisbury a few years back. When Tom Loates had 

 been in New York some time I put myself at his 

 disposal to make his stay there a merrier one if pos- 

 sible, and we spent a considerable time together. I 

 was in a position to show him round, for not only was 

 I saving about fifty thousand dollars a year but I 

 was also busily engaged in spending about two-thirds 

 of that sum ! Loates and I saw a good deal of each 

 other, and with the early opening of the racing season 

 at Morris Park I got the idea that I would like to do 

 Tommy a good turn. There were two cinches that I 

 was engaged for, a brace of real good things I thought 

 any kid could get up on and ride home, so I went to 

 him and told him that, as the Stewards were also 

 anxious for him to ride, I could arrange for him to 

 have the two mounts. The American public were 

 very interested to see England's crack jockey, and I 

 can say with all sincerity I wanted to give my pal a 

 chance to show himself on a New York track. But 

 I couldn't argue him into it. He said that as he was 

 in America for his health he was afraid of what Mr 

 Leopold de Rothschild would think if he got in the 



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