TOD SLOAN TIED-UP.

NZ Truth, 4 January 1908, Page 7

TOD SLOAN TIED-UP.

FAMOUS JOCKEY MARRIED To the Most Beautiful Woman on the American Stage. Interesting and Humorous Account of His Love, Courtship and Marriage. : Whatever his demerits, Tod Sloan, s erstwhile jockey, is one of the most picturesque characters America ever imported to the Old Country. He created, a revolution m the art of racefridi'flg, and used a combination of magnificent • horsemanship and judgment of pace to such "rood purpose that he made an income which it Would not be. far off the mark to estimate at £10,000 for a period of several . years. His fame as a jockey is now s a thing of the past, owing to the fact that he lost his head and became insufferable to everyone who came m contact* with him. But he has had some sobering experiences since, and, though still having a very fine idea of his own importance, he is not the arrogant upstart that he used to be. To the American people he remains a hero, and every new episode m his career is followed with keen interest. (He has a knack of "GETTING THERE," as his countrymen say, and the story of his latest achievement— his marriage to one of the most beautiful^ women on the American sta*>e— makes amusing reading. This, is how his fresh triumph has been, described by one of bis enthusiastic admirers : — "Tod Sloan, international jockey, race track habitue, and all-round sporting man, has ridden his last raice, and placed his last bet. "In Love's Handicap, where he took a hundred-to-one shot, with far more than turf odds against him. he has won. and he is satisfied. With his marriage on September 21 to Miss Julia Sanderson, a principal m 'The Dairy Maids' ' company, he has renounced sporting life m every phase for all time, and henceforth will, adopt the. less precarious, lyut more substantial, career of a business man. This would scarcely seem probable if it did not come from Sloan's own lips. " 'Take it from me m all seriousness,' he says, 'that I have ma-demy last bet on the horses, absolutely and for evermore. You can't MAKE IT TOO STRONG, for I have given my word to the little woman, and the gong was sounded on my money for the last time.' "'Determination fairly shone m the jockey's— erstwhile jockey's— face, and he beamed and smiled m his cosy uptown apartment iust as though renouncing the life bkat had been the ■essence of enjoyment to him ever since he was able to buckle a saddle girth, was unalloyed bliss. And to look at Tod now— Tod of the paddock, the betting ring, and t'he racedburse — one could fairly wull believe that the sacrifice was no sacrifice at all. "Sloan first met the bewitching Julia on the night of July 2, "1004, at the Manhattan Beach Casino, where she was appearing with De Wolf TTep^er j n the revival of 'Wang.' Sitting m one of tbe boxes,

his eye caught sight of a radiantlybeautiful face fitting m and out among a maze of dancers, v a/iding charm to the court of" the'p'seudo king. In a single moment he was interested ; m another he was fascinated. At the curtain, hfc was devoted, though, for the life of him he couldn't exactly tell why. At intermission, his feet compelled him to stroll back to the scenes, and there, still wondering why he did it, he begged his lanky friend Hopper for an introduction. '•' 'It surprised Wolf, all right,' he reminisced, with a twinkle m his eye, 'and he wasn't ,for accommodating me at once. ."I'll have to ask her mother's permission first," he said, and it seemed to me that he ' was gone A MIGHTY LONG TIME. Afterwards I learned that my present mother-in-law considered the matter at some length, arid only gave her consent after she had come to the conclusion that neither she nor her daughter would ev6r lay eyes on me again. But that is where they were both mistaken— and happily so, I sincerely hope.' "Once at the rail, Sloan rode as he had never ridden before. He wasn't just sure what it was that stirred him down deep m the region of his heart, but next day he realised the race had a bride for its stake, and he never let up until he came under the wire a winner, with all competitors far m the ruck. In the diagnosis of his- ailment, speed/played an important part. The vjjrv( afternoon following the introduction by the sea, Sloan brought down Ins racing, automobile, and took his fair inamorata for a spin over the Coney island Boulevard. " 'We struck a seventy-five-mile-an-hour clip, and I was amazed when ! she asked me if that was the best x THE MACHINE COULD! DO,' he said. 'Well, we were going some; I thought, and her remarks took the wind out of me. From that instant I was m lovo, for I had found the most courageous girl I ever saw, and 1 one after my own heart. And she was only fifteen then, mind that !' "When the season closed and Miss Sanderson went to her home m Springfield, Mass., without/ saying the one word this rider of kings' races most desired to hear, he fol-, lowed m his motor, and pressed his suit. Slowly but surely he crawled to the lead, and, after three years' assiduous courting, and after his promise to for.sake the betting-ring for all time, his engagement became a fact just after the close of the Saratoga meeting last July'i" — "Reynolds's." ■-..'•