Cameron Hill

and wins the 1,000 guineas at Newmarket in 1899 and the Ascot Gold Cup the following year.

He also popularised the monkey crouch position on the horse, so he shortened his stirrups and rode up high on the saddle, which then became the done thing across horse racing.

Apparently, everyone rode upright, which is one of those situations in history where I know we have the benefit of hindsight, but how did that not occur to anybody to do that in horse racing?

Now, he had a lot of success and, of course, fame, but quite a few detractors as well.

Why?

Yeah, the British racing scene, not a fan of this.

Maybe a little bit of Yankophobia in here too, but the British Jockey Club in 1901 refused him a licence for unspecified conduct prejudicial to the best interests of the sport.

And he lived hard too and blew through his vast winnings.

So he purchased a small bistro in Paris in 1911 and converted it into what became Harry's Bar in

My goodness.

So the famous modernist haunt of the likes of Ernest Hemingway.

I think James Bond drinks there a good bit in Ian Fleming's novels.

Other rumours were that he gave substances to improve the performances of his horse.

And he was also accused of betting on his own races on multiple occasions, charges he was later cleared of.

And to kind of do his PR a bit of good, he released a memoir in 1915 called Todd Sloan by himself.

And that's probably what led to the name Todd Sloan.

So on your Todd Sloan is Cockney rhyming slang to be on your own.

But also Cockney rhyming slang always has a double entendre.

So it's probably it's likely that he was well known as an outcast.

And the irony of his life is that Todd Sloan, who was divorced twice and blew through his money, died in poverty of cirrhosis of the liver in 1933 at the age of 59.