CHAPTER XV

BRINGS TOD SLOAN TO ENGLAND

Engagement of Tod Sloan as Jockey--Beresford Family Affection--Caiman Wins Classic Race--Democrat and His Races--A Tip for the “Blues”--Accident to Sloan--His Downfall--Five Years’ Racing and Winnings in Stakes Alone--Volodyovski Bought--At Liverpool When Ambush II Won the Grand National

We are now dealing with 1897, when Tod Sloan was introduced to the British public by Lord William, who had been keeping an eye on the lad’s performances in America, observing that in 1895 he had 442 mounts, and won 132 races, in California four races being won in a day. In consequence of this and what he was told of the lad, his lordship sent a cable asking the jockey to come over here as he had some useful horses to be ridden. The years 1897-1898-1899 and 1900 were great for the Beresford stable.

Sloan was for several years much in evidence, so it may be worth while to pause a moment and introduce him to those of my readers who have either forgotten or never known anything about him. His real name was James Forman Sloan, when a very small boy he had been adopted by people named Blauser, who thinking they were being witty, called him “Toad,” because he was so tiny, this by degrees condensed itself into Tod, and Tod Sloan it remained to the end of the chapter.

In America Sloan had been riding for Mr. W. C. Whitney, who released him to ride for Lord William, saying he should very likely be in England himself before long. As a matter of fact he arrived at much the same time as the jockey, and met Lord William for the first time at Newmarket, where Sloan introduced him to his lordship, the outcome of this introduction being they became partners. At this time Jakes Pincus was training Lord William’s horses, later Huggins, who came over with Mr. Lorillard, reigned in his stead. Pincus was another American; he had not been long in this country, yet he was the man who trained the only American horse that ever won the Derby, if my memory is to be trusted. Iroquois was the horse. The man was a bit of a jockey himself, I have been told.

Mr. Cuthbert was secretary to Lord William’s stable at that time, later I believe he went to Newmarket in the employ of Mr. George Lambton.

Sloan was one of those fortunate jockeys who can eat what they like without putting on weight, very different from some other jockeys of that date. Fred Archer, for instance, who had to breakfast off hot castor oil and a slice of thin toast with a view to keeping his weight down, he dared not dine with friends, as owing to dieting so rigidly he felt he was a wet blanket at a feast. Poor fellow, in his endeavours to ride 8 st. 7 lbs., he became a wreck very early in life, the wonder was he lived as long as he did. It will be remembered at the age of thirty he felt he had had enough and took his own life. Though much liked and perhaps the most popular of jockeys he was severe with his mounts.

Sloan was fond of animals and gentle with them, Mornington Cannon also, and they seem to have achieved equal success. Archer’s seat was the opposite of Sloan’s, for he sat well back, while Sloan it was introduced that peculiar monkey up a stick seat which became more or less the fashion amongst the American jockeys. Archer was very, very canny with his money, which at times used to annoy people, Sloan on the other hand was too generous and let other people help him to spend his earnings almost too freely. Cannon liked riding waiting races, while Sloan liked to get away and come right through. There was one occasion certainly when Cannon waited a little too long with Flying Fox, not giving himself time to get home, but he was a good judge of pace.

Sloan’s seat used to be much commented on when first he came over to this country, people thought he rode with very short stirrups, but he did not really, it was the crouching along the neck of the horse when going fast which gave him that appearance. He attributed much of his success to this attitude as it gave less resistance to the wind, therefore helpful to the horses.

Sloan entirely agreed with me on one point, which I have already expressed in my book _Women in the Hunting Field_, namely that horses will not tread on you when down if they can possibly help it. _He_ went so far as to say they “would not unless pulled into it.”

Lord William used to say Sloan had no luck unless he was there, and really it seemed like it. When Lord Bill lost a race he had been hoping and expecting to win his face was a study, he had marvellous self-control, and beyond growing very white showed no sign of feeling and was always most generous to the unhappy and often equally disappointed jockey.

Lord William thought he had a great horse in St. Cloud II. I fear he did not fulfil his owner’s expectations, though certainly he was a great horse, but it was in size, he stood seventeen hands.

The largest stakes Lord William ever went for was probably over Sandia in the Cambridgeshire. Either St. Cloud or Sandia ought to have won easily. Lord William and Sloan were under the impression they had won with Sandia, but Mr. Robinson, the judge, was under the impression they had not, but that is an old story now. At the time there was a good deal of feeling about it.

Sandia won the old Cambridgeshire in the Autumn of 1897, and Diakka won the Duke of York Stakes at Kempton Park, for which he started favourite.

Lord William found time to go to York and help his brother, Lord Charles, now Lord Beresford, who was standing in the Conservative interest against Mr. Furniss. Lord Marcus also went to give a helping hand. In Lord Beresford’s own book he gives some amusing accounts of his brother’s smart and witty repartees to questions asked by the electors. There was a good deal of excitement in the town at the time. Lord Beresford won by eleven votes, rather a near thing. It was too much for the poor Lord Mayor, he died the same night from excitement and strain.

The three brothers were very happy working together over this election, the affection they had felt for one another in youth had not been estranged, they were still devoted to one another, it was always charming to hear them speak of their relatives. What does this family affection spring from I wonder? It is not often met with; take two well-known families the Scotch Gordons and the Irish Waterfords. The Gordons according to their own account could as brothers never agree, if one told a story of what he had done at cricket, racing, or some such thing, and one of his brothers happened to be present he would flatly contradict him, telling him he did not believe it, and he was telling tarra-diddles; followed of course by a free fight, very often even when staying in friends’ houses. Once speaking of their quarrelsomeness Lord Granville Gordon, commonly called Granny, said, “You know our family is not like the Beresfords one bit, they are always full of praise of one another and inseparable. If you were to say to Lord Marcus or Markey as we call him, ‘That was a great thing you brought off the other day,’ the reply would certainly be something of this sort, ‘Oh yes, but you should see my brother Bill, he can do ten times better,’ or ‘You should see Charlie, no one can touch him’; the same with Lord Charles, it is always how much better his brothers could do things than himself.”

An uncle of mine, the Rev. Francis Gooch, used to fish at Ford Abbey in Northumberland by the kind permission of Lady Waterford. One day when Lord Charles was up there and he was speaking to my uncle he said, “Do you know my brother Bill?” The reply being in the negative Lord Charles said, “Then bedad you don’t know the finest man in the world.” It is really a beautiful and uncommon thing to have lived through the great part of their allotted years, knowing each other intimately, loving each other tenderly, without one spark of jealous fault-finding, superiority, or littleness. The pity there are not more families equally attached, they do not know what they miss; looking back through the sketch book of their lives, that family affection has added warmth and beautiful colouring to many of its pictures, to be recalled and lived through again when the day is far spent and night is near.

In 1898 Lord William owned many winners entered in the name of one or other of the two partners. Caiman as a two year old won the Middle Park Plate, value £2775, Sloan riding; beating the Duke of Westminster’s Flying Fox ridden by Mornington Cannon. I am able to give a beautiful photograph of Caiman at the starting-post the day he won this race. It will be noticed Sloan did not ride very short, as I have already pointed out. It will also be noticed his hand is up to his mouth, this was a habit or trick of his, he always put his hand to his mouth when a horse was walking or in a very slow pace. Whether he had any theories about it or not I do not know.

Flying Fox was a horse that stood out prominently in racing records, not only as a triple crown winner, but as the horse that fetched the highest price ever paid at a sale by auction for a racehorse, namely £39,375, Kingsclere and Prince Palatine being bought by private contract by Mr. J. B. Joel at £40,000, a price that would perhaps not have been reached under the hammer.

In the Two Thousand Guineas value £4250 Caiman only ran second, Sloan up, Flying Fox winning this time, Cannon riding. For the St. Leger at Doncaster value £4050 Flying Fox again won, Caiman second, both ridden by the same jockey as in the previous races.

In 1900 Caiman only won the Lingfield Park Stakes value £2420, his wins, however, as a two year old in 1898 were £3557, as a three year old £3884 and as a four year old £2420, making the pleasing total of £9861.

The chief races won in 1898 were the Clearwell Stakes and Middle Park Plate by Caiman, Esher Stakes by Diakka, Thirty-fifth Biennial at Ascot by Sandia, Exeter Stakes by Dominie. Mykka the Lancaster Nursery First October Two Year Old Stakes, Prendergast Stakes, and Sandown Great Sapling Plate. On September 30th, Sloan won the Bretby Welter on Draco for Lord William by six lengths, the next race the Scurry Nursery on Manatee, the next race again the Rous Memorial Stakes on Landrail by three lengths, another on Libra, by two lengths, the Newmarket St. Leger on Galashiels by a head, making five wins and a second out of seven mounts, not a bad day for one stable.

Huggins, who was training the horses, lived at Heath House, the former home of the great Dawson trainers, “Mat,” and after him his nephew George. Heath House will always remain most famous in connection with the name of the uncle, as most of “Mat” Dawson’s greatest classic efforts came from that home; for the late Lord Falmouth, Duke of Portland, Lord Hastings of Melton fame, and lastly crowned with the success of Lord Rosebery’s Ladas.

The historic Democrat now came on the scenes in 1899. An American bred horse, his sire being Sensation, his dam Equality. This handsome and gentle chestnut with four white legs won no less than seven out of eleven races as a two year old, worth £12,939, including the Coventry Stakes at Ascot, the National Breeders’ Foal Stakes at Sandown, and the Middle Park Plate and Dewhurst Plate. The light blue and black cap was doing good business.

A record of all Democrat’s races may be interesting:

TWO YEAR OLD RECORD, 1899

May 1st. Great Surrey Breeders’ Foal Plate, Epsom; 4th (Sloan).

May 5th. Royal Two Year Old Plate, Kempton Park; 2nd (Sloan), £200.

May 11th. Bedford Plate, Newmarket; 2nd (Sloan), £50.

June 13th. Coventry Stakes, Ascot; 1st (Sloan), £1,826, beating H.R.H. Prince of Wales’s horse, Diamond Jubilee, ridden by Watts.

July 1st. Hurst Park Foal Plate, Hurst Park; 1st (Sloan), £1,135.

July 15th. National Breeders’ Produce Stakes, Sandown Park; 1st (Sloan), £4,357.

Sept. 5th. Champagne Stakes, Doncaster; 1st (Sloan), £1,310.

Sept. 29th. Rous Memorial Stakes, Newmarket; 1st (Sloan), £568.

Oct. 6th. The Imperial Stakes, Kempton Park; 2nd (Sloan), £300.

Oct 14th. Middle Park Plate, Newmarket; 1st (Sloan), £2,305, beating Prince of Wales’s Diamond Jubilee.

Oct. 26th. The Dewhurst Plate, Newmarket, Houghton; 1st (Sloan), £1,432; Prince of Wales’s Diamond Jubilee 2nd.

THREE YEAR OLD RUNNING, 1900

May 30th. Epsom Derby. Democrat ran but was not placed, the race being won by Diamond Jubilee, but this time Sloan was not riding Democrat, but one called Disguise for another owner, and was severely reprimanded for this breach of Rule 140, forbidding crossing. June 14th. The New Biennial, Ascot. Democrat not placed; ridden by Weldon. Sloan rode the winner, Courlan. Oct. 9th. The Royal Stakes, Newmarket; 1st (L. Reiff), £586. This was Democrat’s last win; he ran later at Liverpool for the Autumn Cup, but was not placed.

I am under the impression that the last time Lord William’s colours were seen on a racecourse was at Manchester, when his Billow II, bred in Australia, won the Autumn Plate, ridden by Reiff. Jolly Tar won six races in 1900.

The year Democrat won the Coventry Stakes at Ascot (1899) Lord William was standing outside the “Blues’” tent after luncheon talking to some of his friends, amongst others Sir Claude de Crespigny, discussing the merits of the different horses, when he was heard to say apparently as much to himself as his friends, “It’s all very well their making the Prince’s horse (Diamond Jubilee) favourite; mine has just as good a chance of winning.” This was repeated to some of the “Blues,” who had not been having a very good time over the Trial Stakes, adding, the Royal horse is at evens and Bill’s at three’s, they selected the latter and landed the long odds. After this they told Sir Claude if he had another good tip like that for the next day they hoped he would come and have luncheon again.

Sloan was never a great admirer of Democrat, why I do not know, as the horse proved himself one of the best of his years.

Riding at Kempton in 1898 a horse reared over with Sloan, hurting his pelvis bone. Seeing what pain the man was in and knowing from experience something about it, Lord William said, “Your racing is done for to-day, my little man.” “But,” said Sloan, “who then is going to ride your Democrat?” Lord William replied, “I shall put Cannon up.” This was anguish to Sloan, who was somewhat jealous of Cannon, but he may have found consolation in the result, as the horse did not win. His owner thought it was due to the change of jockey, horses are very susceptible to any change of hands.

Sloan always considered the greatest achievement of his life was beating Flying Fox on Caiman in the Middle Park Plate, when Cannon, as referred to earlier, waited just a little too long before letting Flying Fox out, not leaving time to pick up and win.

In 1899 Lord William won his first and only classic race with his Sibola at Newmarket in the One Thousand, Sloan riding. There were great rejoicings in the Beresford camp. Sibola ought to have won the Oaks that year, but got a bad start. Some people thought it was due to a fit of temper on Sloan’s part, others attributed the defeat to Sloan, but giving other reasons; be that as it may, it was a great disappointment to the horse’s owner.

Sloan was altogether getting out of favour about now. At Ascot he got himself mixed up with a waiter and a champagne bottle, resulting in Lord William very kindly trying to pacify the piqued waiter. This took some doing, but was eventually managed to the tune of several hundreds, to save scandal and trouble. The Stewards enquired into the matter and exonerated Sloan. In honesty to the jockey, I am pleased to be able to state, when he found out what Lord William had done for him, he insisted on the amount being deducted from his retaining fees.

Lord William was undoubtedly Sloan’s best friend, being exceedingly generous and kind to him, but latterly he gave his mounts to Weldon, the two Reiffs, and others, being disappointed with Sloan and fearing he had got into the hands of those not likely to improve him, and certainly about that time a number of desperate American gamblers graced this country with their presence and heavy ready money investments which put temptation into a jockey’s way. If a jockey only bets on his own mount all may be well, but unfortunately they get tempted sometimes to bet on others, while such a thing has been heard of as a jockey squaring or thinking he has squared the rest of his confrères in the race; and then failed.

The final blow came to Sloan over the Cambridgeshire of 1900, over which there were many unpleasant stories afloat in connection with his betting. It was a thousand pities, for he did so well when first he came over to this country. Lord William was very pleased with his riding, and many people had been most kind to him.

At one time, I think it must have been at Doncaster in 1899, the Prince of Wales told Lord William he should like Sloan to ride for him during the coming season, however, circumstances forbade this. Codoman was the horse Sloan was riding in the Cambridgeshire when he got into trouble over betting. Lord William again did all he could for Sloan, but the Jockey Club were firm and advised Sloan not to apply for a licence to ride during 1901. Of course he was acting against the rules in betting and he knew it, but I do not think Sloan was alone by any manner of means in this misdemeanour; again, I say the pity of it, for he was a great master of his method in the saddle; he always maintained his crouching seat over the horse’s neck that had much to do with his success. Unfortunately he was a perfect idiot where his own real interests were concerned. Here again he was not alone, many of us are quite brilliant in looking after other people’s affairs and yet make shocking hashes of our own.

It will, I think, have been clear to the readers all through these chapters how very generous Lord William was to all who worked with or for him; also indeed to many with absolutely no claim on his large and kindly heart. Huggins, his trainer, was another recipient of his open-handed generosity. At Newmarket he was a favourite amongst the residents and Lord William had a great liking for him, but I doubt if it is generally known that over and above other fees and charges Lord William allowed him 10 per cent on _all stakes_ won. This would mean a comfortable income if the stable was lucky. A glance at the value of the stakes won between 1896 and 1900 will prove this.

_Year._ _No. of wins._ _Value._ 1896 12 £5,186 1897 13 7,867 1898 16 8,029 1899 69 42,736½ 1900 48 24,522 --- -------- TOTAL 158 £88,340½

In giving the above I am leaning heavily on the safe side, as there were some wins of which I do not know the value, so cannot count them in the total.

Lord William was still hoping to win the Derby, and believed at last he was “going to do the trick” in 1901, for in 1900 he leased from Lady Meux, a two year old horse named Volodyovski for his racing career. For the comfort of my readers I may here state that owing to the horse’s name being such a mouthful, and the difficulty experienced by many in pronouncing it at all, he soon became known as Voly, which will answer my purpose very well. This horse won five races out of the last six he ran for Lord William, namely the Windsor Castle Stakes, Rous Memorial at Goodwood, Newmarket Stud Produce Stakes, Rous Memorial at Newmarket, other winners besides Caiman being Jolly Tar and Jiffy II.

It will be remembered it was Diamond Jubilee that prevented Lord William heading the list of winners in 1900, and Flying Fox in 1899. But as the following shows it was a near thing.

1899, Duke of Westminster, 1st £43,965--Lord William 2nd £42,736½. 1900, Prince of Wales 1st £29,585--Lord William 2nd £24,585.

Race meetings of all sorts and kinds attracted Lord William, whether running horses of his own or not; he was present at Liverpool when the Prince of Wales won with Ambush II, and his own horse Easter Ogue ran seventh. The scene outside the weighing-room door as His Royal Highness awaited the return of his winning horse baffles description; it was difficult to keep a clear space for Anthony to dismount; all were so anxious to congratulate the Prince. One of the earliest to express his pleasure and to congratulate him was the subject of these memories, and it so happened that the camera man managed to squeeze into the small space and photograph the King as he met the horse, just as he left Lord William.

Always when flat racing was over Lord William turned his attention to chasing, which he had liked from his earliest days. I remember standing with him once in a crowd at a big “jump” meeting, and saying to him, “I suppose you have always been too occupied to make a study of the faces round you at one of these meetings?” He replied, “No indeed, I have not been too occupied, but I do not like to look, sometimes a race means so much to a man.” I remarked I thought a certain friend standing near us, and owner of the favourite, was looking rather pale and anxious, but he said, “Oh he’s all right, an old hand at the game,” nevertheless when the favourite was over the last fence I heard a big sigh and when the cheering began after the horse had won by nearly a length the owner collapsed. I wonder what would have happened if he had lost? Lord William told me afterwards that if he had not won that race he would have been absolutely ruined. The faces of a crowd on a racecourse, especially at a “jump” meeting, is an interesting study and instructive.

It is painful to watch the restless hands and nervous twitchings of those to whom it means “up” or “down.” Some of course go who delight in a fair race when the horses are not ridden to death, that is to say never again able to meet such a supreme moment; people who have nothing of any consequence in any of the races, or who, like the late James Lowther, seldom or never bet at all. Then again there are the curiously constituted folk who flock round the most dangerous jumps, presumably, to witness any accident that may occur; some people revel in seeing accidents. One man I have known now for many years, has never to my knowledge, been moved to mirth unless someone has hurt themselves, then he indulges in a waistcoat contortion which answers for laughter, his mouth spreads slowly across his face, but his eyes take no part in his merriment.

Some of the accounts that appeared in the papers from time to time relating to Lord William’s achievements were very funny. The _Sporting Times_ some years ago referred to this in one of their issues I am told, as follows: “Does Lord William Beresford read the _Hornet_? Probably not, but if he does he must be surprised to find that he is the third son of John, fourth Marquis of Waterloo. Why not also first cousin of Viscount Vauxhall, and distantly related to the Countess of Charing Cross?”

Lord William’s health about now was causing some anxiety, and he was persuaded to try Homburg where he had been benefited several times before, but on this occasion he came back looking worse than when he went.

The last time I saw his lordship at Homburg, the Prince of Wales, Sir George Wombwell and Colonel Stanley Clarke were being greatly amused at some of his jokes, and the stories he was telling against himself.

Shall we ever see his like again?