TOD SLOAN 



Belmar already referred to, while the best two-year-old 

 I ever rode was a colt named Jean Beraud owned by 

 Dave Gideon, the uncle of Melville Gideon, so well 

 known as the composer and singer of rag-time. I do 

 not know whether the latter remembers the young 

 horse in question, for Melville is some years my junior. 

 Among the many musicians I have met in my life I 

 put him down as one of the greatest in his own line. 

 I was once a bit of a tenor myself ; in fact I had always 

 a keen appreciation and a certain amount of knowledge 

 of music of all kinds. Melville Gideon was quite a 

 wonder as a boy, and afterwards studied music in 

 Germany ; he is versatile to a degree and has only to 

 stick to it to be able to do anything. Anyhow, he has 

 amused a great public in all parts of the world while 

 his melodies seem destined to last as long as "The 

 Swanee River." 



Another topic I have been frequently interviewed 

 about — by French journalists in particular — is the 

 question of " dope." It would be silly to say that the 

 meaning of the term was not known to me, but I can 

 say frankly, without any fear of being hauled up, that 

 I never handled dope of any kind nor lent myself to 

 its use. One of the first questions put to me in this 

 connection was always as to whether drugs were liable 

 to injure a horse permanently, and my intelligent reply 

 could only be that a real stimulant would perhaps help 

 an animal who was a little faint-hearted or had a weak- 

 ness in temperament, much as a man could be " assisted " 

 by whisky or brandy properly applied. I do not 

 know, having been out of racing for so long, whether the 

 old-fashioned English stimulants of port wine or old 

 ale, which I have read have been given to horses for 

 generations, are still permitted, but I have been told 

 by many old-time racing men in England that they were 



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