Category: Jockeys

Not to be confused with the Canadian ice hockey player of the same name, James Forman ‘Tod’ Sloan was an American jockey whose celebrity was such that he inspired the title character in the Broadway musical ‘Little Johnny Jones’ by George M. Cohan. The real-life ‘Yankee Doodle’ did, indeed, come to London, or at least to Britain, where he popularised theso-called ‘American seat’ or ‘monkey crouch’ style of riding, which would eventually be adopted worldwide. It was a different time, with no best usa online casino fast payout sites, or Internet at all of course. A glimpse into the past!

In a bright, but brief, riding career in Britain, Sloan won the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Sibola, owned by Lord William Beresford and trained by Texan John Huggins, in 1899 and the Gold Cup at Ascot on Merman, owned by celebrated society beauty Lily Langtry and trained by Jack Robinson, in 1900. He might also have won the Derby, had his mount Holocauste not broken down with a shattered pastern a quarter of a mile from home, when in the lead. However, contemporary reports suggests that the eventual winner, Flying Fox, who went on to win the Triple Crown, had already taken his measure.

In 1901, under suspicion for betting on races in which he had ridden, Sloan was informed by the Jockey Club that his licence would not be renewed. A reciprocal arrangement with the American Jockey Club meant that the official suspension also applied in his native land, so his riding career was effectively over. Nevertheless, Sloan was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1955. In todays online world where we can be sat in the UK while playing new online casinos australia, it’s fascinating to learn that even in days gone by some industrious types were rerally well travelled (in the physical rather than virtual sense!).

A graduate of the National Horseracing College in Doncaster, David Allan began his riding career as apprentice to Lancashire trainer Alan Berry in 1999 and rode his first winner, Peter’s Imp, trained by Berry, at Warwick on July 22, 2000. He subsequently joined North Yorkshire trainer Tim Easterby, riding out his claim on Piccled, trained by Eric Alston, at York on June 11, 2004, and becoming stable jockey at Easterby’s Habton Grange Stables in Malton the following year.

Allan has since become one of the most respected jockeys in the North of England. His career total of over 1,300 winners incorporates over 50 winners in all bar three of his 17 seasons as a fully-fledged professional. His CV includes a total of 35 Listed and Pattern races wins, the most recent of which was the Group 3 William Hill Ireland Renaissance Stakes at the Curragh, on Art Power, on September 25, 2021. Indeed, in 2021, so far, Allan has ridden 75 winners, so is on schedule for his most successful season ever, numerically.

For the last decade or so, Allan has spent mid-November to mid-March riding in India, with no little success. In fact, victory on Mauritania in the Bangalore 2,000 Guineas in January, 2018, took his career tally to 23 Indian Classic winners, breaking the previous record set by Sandy Barclay and making him the most successful foreign jockey in the history of Indian racing.

The late Walter Swinburn, who suffered a fatal head injury after falling from a window at his home in Belgravia, Central London in December, 2016, aged 55, was best known as the jockey of Shergar, on whom he won the Derby for the first time in 1981. Affectionately nicknamed the ‘Choirboy’ because of his youthful looks, Swinburn was just 19 years old when he partnered Shergar to a record 10-length success at Epsom. Indeed, his unparalleled rout of seventeen rivals led BBC commentator Peter Bromley to exclaim, ‘There’s only one horse in it. You need a telescope to see the rest!’

Swinburn won the Derby again in 1986 on Shahrastani who, like Shergar, was owned by
Shāh Karim al-Husayni, a.k.a. Aga Khan IV, trained by Michael Stoute and won the Sandown Classic Trial in impressive fashion en route to Epsom. In a contentious renewsal, Shahrastani, was sent off 11/2 second favourite behind the unbeaten Dancing Brave, but took the lead two furlongs out and held on by an ever-diminishing half a length.

Nine years later, in 1995, Swinburn won his third and final Derby on Lammtara, owned by Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum and trained by Saeed bin Suroor, following the murder of his original trainer, Alex Scott, the previous September. Making just his second start ever, and returning from a 302-day absence, Lammtara was sent off at 14/1 at Epsom, but produced a strong burst inside the final furlong to lead close home and beat Tamure by a length.

At the time of his shock retirement in April, 2021, Richard ‘Dicky’ Johnson had ridden 3,819 winners, a figure surpassed only by his great friend and rival Sir Anthony McCoy. Johnson rode his first winner, Rusty Bridge, trained by his mother, Susan, in a hunters’ chase at Hereford on April 30, 1994. He won the Conditional Jockeys’ Championship in 1995/96 and, over the next two decades, finished runner-up in the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship, behind McCoy, on no fewer than 16 occasions. McCoy retired in April, 2015 and Johnson finally emerged from his shadow to win the jockeys’ title four years running, in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Interestingly, on the day of his retirement, at Newton Abbot, Johnson gave up his last scheduled ride on the card, such that his last actual ride was Brother Tedd, on whom he’d won McCoy’s final race at Sandown Park six years previously. His last winner, though, was Camprond, fittingly trained by Philip Hobbs – to whom he had been first jockey since 1999 – in a maiden hurdle at Taunton on March 23, 2021. In his 27-year career, Johnson took over 20,000 rides.