James Forman Sloan, popularly known as ‘Tod’ Sloan, was an American jockey who found fame, and infamy, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean on either side of the turn of the twentieth century. Born in Bunker Hill, near Kokomo, Indiana on August 10, 1874, Sloan was originally nicknamed ‘Toad’ by his father, because on his diminutive stature. As an adult, Sloan stood just 5′ tall and weighed in at 90lb but, after riding his first winner at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 6, 1889, eventually went on to become an international superstar.
He first dominated the West Coast and, later, the East Coast, before moving to Britain in 1896, where he is credited with popularising the so-called ‘American seat’, or ‘monkey crouch’, as it was initially derided by the British. Traditionally, British jockeys sat bolt upright in the saddle, with long stirrup leathers and their legs hanging down at the sides of the horse. By contrast, Sloan shortened his stirrup leathers – although, according to photographic evidence, not by as much as some historians would have you believe – so that he could crouch low and forward over the withers of the horse, with his knees bent close to his body. In so doing, he effectively uncoupled his own movements from that of the horse, thereby reducing the burden upon it and allowing it to run faster.
Sloan was by no means the first jockey to ride in this way, but was, nonetheless, one of the pioneers of the new riding style in Europe. After four hugely successful seasons riding for leading owners James Keene, Pierre Lorillard, Lord William Beresford and Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, Sloan was denied a licence by the Jockey Club for ‘ conduct prejudicial to the best interests of the sport’. He was never ‘warned off’, but never reinstated either, and his riding career was effectively over.