TOD SLOAN 



only finish third. We backed him to win a fortune but 

 as luck would have it some of us quit good winners by 

 having as much on for a place as to win. So it was not 

 altogether a failure. 



It is curious what a fateful race the Cambridgeshire 

 has been to me. First St Cloud II. ; then I was left 

 on Nunsuch; the Codoman trouble; and then just 

 missing first place with Nabot when it was so import- 

 ant to me. I have no doubt what I have said about 

 the French horse may be quarrelled with by many 

 English critics, but personally I was never so sure 

 about anything as his winning. I am not excusing 

 myself in the matter for I didn't ride him. However, 

 it is no use thinking too much about it. It is so long 

 ago. 



As may be remembered Nabot was bought for two 

 thousand guineas, if I remember rightly, by Sir John 

 Blundell Maple. Sir John came to me in the paddock 

 in Newmarket and asked whether I thought him a nice 

 horse to buy. Of course I said yes. He also asked 

 whether the horse had been doped, and I answered 

 that to the best of my knowledge the horse had never 

 been given anything in his racing career. There were 

 a good many stories about at the time as to doping, 

 and I believe poor Alec Waugh, who managed Sir J. B. 

 Maple's horses, was firmly convinced that Nabot 

 had been, and thought his owner had a very dear 

 bargain. 



I should like to say another word about Thompson. 

 He was a very good rider in France but he never 

 seemed to give his best performances in England. 

 Certainly he won the City and Suburban in 1903 on 

 Brambilla, but I think Robert Denman, who trained 

 Mr Edmond Blanc's Vinicius (second to Rock Sand in 

 1903), was one of the most disappointed men at Epsom 



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