In the 1890s, when jockey Tod Sloan first assumed a low crouching position over the neck of his horse, he precipitated a revolution in horse racing. This entertaining book recounts the story of the feisty jockey, famed throughout the U.S. and Great Britain at the turn of the century. Award-winning author John Dizikes evokes the turbulent, colorful world of racing and gambling and in the process illuminates such topics as the lionizing (and demonizing) of celebrities and the democratization of sport.