Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 310, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1919 — CALL LITTLE FATOR ANOTHER TOD SLOAN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CALL LITTLE FATOR ANOTHER TOD SLOAN

Clever Jockey Cost Samuel Hildreth $15,000. Riders of Today Do Not Class With Boys of Olden Times—Youngsters Do Not Make Study of Various Tracks. They are touting little Laverne Fator,* the jockey for whose contract Samuel Hildreth recently paid $15,000, as the “second Tod Sloan.” Well, Fator Is a good boy. He may be even greater than Tod—some day. But I doubt it very much and I’ll tell you why. - ' It isn’t that I am blinded' by the glamour of memory and the years that have drifted by since Sloan ro<Je. I am not. I am of those who believe implicitly in the improvement of athletics in all branches of sport. But the riding of horses is different from athletic competition. There is no gainsaying the fact that the jockeys, of today, with the exception of Johnny Loftus, do not class with the boys of Sloan’s time, writes Jim Sinnott in New York Evening Mail. There was one year at the old Morris Park when Sloan was practically unbeatable over the course that hpd a noticeable incline at the far turn. He won races with a regularity that was uncanny. It was purely by accident that the reason for Sloan’s great success at Morris Park was discovered. This is the story as Jack Doyle tells it. “A horseman had been out on a late party,” says DoyK?. “He was returning to the stables at Morris Park about 5 o’clock in the iporning when he met Tod Sloan walking in from the track. ‘“Out pretty early Tod, aren’t you?’ he asked. ‘Yes,’ answered Sloan. ‘But, you see, I couldn’t sleep and came out for a breath of air.’

“Several years later Sloan met this horseman on Brqadway one night and they got to talking of the old days at Morris Park. ‘Do you remember that morning you met me walking in from the track at 5 o’clock?’ asked Tod. ‘Very well,’ said the horseman. ‘Tell the truth now, Tod, were you just getting in from a party?’ “ ‘No,’ answered Sloan. TH tell you about that. Morris Park is gone and I’m not riding any more, .so I don’t mind giving up some of my secrets. ’* ‘lf you will remember there was a steep incline near the far turn at Morris Park. Then the track sloped down again toward the stretch. “‘I was out that morning finding out just where the incline started and where it ended and the down grade began, After that I could always ease my mounts up as I hit the hill and save them until I got to the top. Then I could make my run on the down grade with a fresh horse under me, If you’ll I won many a race over that Morris Park course after you met me walking that morning,”’ And there you have it. Tod Sloan, ■when he was at the height of his career, would go out at dawn to find out something about a certain spot in a track that might help him win races. Do you think Fator or the other youngsters riding today would think of these things, or, if they thought of them, would take the trouble to find out about them? Well, maybe Fator would. I hope so. But I must say that I doubt it very much.

Tod Sloan.