TOD SLOAN 



in a much more important race and he won again. 

 By this time he was reckoned as being worth 5000 

 dollars ; and eventually after one or two more successes 

 and the beating of Hamburg he was thought one of the 

 best horses in America. He was nothing of the kind. 



Another statement which Pittsburg Phil was sup- 

 posed to have made was that Skeets Martin was and 

 is a good mud rider and it was this knowledge that 

 caused him to put Skeets up on Howard Mann who 

 won the Brooklyn Handicap, beating his other two 

 entries, Belmar and The Winner. " Tod Sloan was 

 riding for me then " — I quote Pittsburg Phil's words — 

 " and he knew that Howard Mann could beat good 

 horses in the mud but he did not think he could out- 

 step Belmar. I believed that Howard Mann could 

 beat Belmar under certain conditions and told Martin 

 so. I thought Martin was better than Sloan in the 

 mud, and when Sloan chose the mount on Belmar I 

 was secretly pleased. The only orders I gave in the 

 race were to Martin to get up on Howard Mann, get 

 off and go about his business. I added in a joking way 

 that if Tod were within hearing distance of him at the 

 head of the stretch to tell him to hurry home or he 

 would be too late. Wliether Skeets ever said it I do 

 not know, but if he did Tod never heard him. Howard 

 Mann was half-way home before Belmar hit the quarter 

 pole." 



The real facts of the case are that Phil only had 

 Belmar and Howard Mann in the race and Fred Taral 

 was to be put on Belmar who had no chance, but I was 

 so fond of the horse and had won on him so frequently 

 that I didn't want to see him perhaps knocked about 

 by a rider who didn't understand him ; so I got Skeets 

 for Howard Mann since Phil was determined to run the 

 two. There was no question of Skeets being such a 



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