At one time, I think it must have been at Doncaster in 1899, the Prince of Wales told Lord William he should like Sloan to ride for him during the coming season, however, circumstances forbade this. Codoman was the horse Sloan was riding in the Cambridgeshire when he got into trouble over betting. Lord William again did all he could for Sloan, but the Jockey Club were firm and advised Sloan not to apply for a licence to ride during 1901. Of course he was acting against the rules in betting and he knew it, but I do not think Sloan was alone by any manner of means in this misdemeanour; again, I say the pity of it, for he was a great master of his method in the saddle; he always maintained his crouching seat over the horse’s neck that had much to do with his success. Unfortunately he was a perfect idiot where his own real interests were concerned. Here again he was not alone, many of us are quite brilliant in looking after other people’s affairs and yet make shocking hashes of our own. It will, I think, have been clear to the readers all through these chapters how very generous Lord William was to all who worked with or for him; also indeed to many with absolutely no claim on his large and kindly heart. Huggins, his trainer, was another recipient of his open-handed generosity. At Newmarket he was a favourite amongst the residents and Lord William had a great liking for him, but I doubt if it is generally known that over and above other fees and charges Lord William allowed him 10 per cent on _all stakes_ won. This would mean a comfortable income if the stable was lucky. A glance at the value of the stakes won between 1896 and 1900 will prove this. _Year._ _No. of wins._ _Value._ 1896 12 £5,186 1897 13 7,867 1898 16 8,029 1899 69 42,736½ 1900 48 24,522 --- -------- TOTAL 158 £88,340½ In giving the above I am leaning heavily on the safe side, as there were some wins of which I do not know the value, so cannot count them in the total. Lord William was still hoping to win the Derby, and believed at last he was “going to do the trick” in 1901, for in 1900 he leased from Lady Meux, a two year old horse named Volodyovski for his racing career. For the comfort of my readers I may here state that owing to the horse’s name being such a mouthful, and the difficulty experienced by many in pronouncing it at all, he soon became known as Voly, which will answer my purpose very well. This horse won five races out of the last six he ran for Lord William, namely the Windsor Castle Stakes, Rous Memorial at Goodwood, Newmarket Stud Produce Stakes, Rous Memorial at Newmarket, other winners besides Caiman being Jolly Tar and Jiffy II.