Miami Tribune from Miami, Florida • 28

SsSAti How Science and Wealth Have Combined to Save the American Youth Who Is the Greatest Money Maying Harry Sinclair Oil King and Owner of Kancocas Stable Who Holds Sande in High Esteem as a Friend and Beyond Value as Master of His Craft Rider of All Time A The Left Clavicle or Collar Hone Was Fractured There Was a Slight Fracture of the Lower Left Rib Mrs- Earl Sande Niece of Sam Hildreth Looks Mournfully at ner Youthful Riding Regalia ting down again to the 113 -pound requirement Sande in fact had difficulty in keeping down to this figure as it was and before his accident it had been declared that he might transfer his racing activities to European tracks where the weight requirements were not so rigid But that too is on the knees of the gods Earl Sande pronounced Sandee is twenty-five years old and was born at Groton Unlike a great many jockeys he come by his love for horses and his riding ability through heredity None of his family so far as he knew were horsemen and his brother was afraid of them Earl remembers that he began to pull himself to the tops of horses regardless of their size or reputation for friskiness at an extremely early age and though he got an occasional fall he never had a serious accident until the Saratoga track mishap The reason for this was that he always liked horses and they found it out very quickly They trusted him and would work for him He always got everything they could give on the track and off But his brother whenever he would see Earl astride a neighborhood pony invariably rushed home and told their mother who would scold Earl severely This however did not stop him from riding and he soon got a reputation in his section for A Rider Goes Down an Incident of an English Steeplechase Illustrating the Extreme I'enl lhat Besets a Fallen Jockey 1HE crash that Jockey Sande to the ground at Saratoga beneath a heap of kicking squealing terrified horses had its echo In the heart of every race follower the woild over The first rider of America perhaps the first on eartn and one of the gamest boys that ever sat in a saddle was down No wonder then that a groan went up from the stands that society matrons and millionaires followed the shrieking bride of the Jockey as she rushed headlong for the lockey's quarters and even the calloused biids felt a shocking sense of personal disaster This was a natural and spontaneous tribute to a youth who epitomised the finest traditions of raring Nor was it unnatural that Harry Sinclair owner of Rancocas Stable and employer Dr Carev Grayson and other prominent sportsmen should have immediately taken every step to ease his pain and to insure him the services of the best medical and surgical talent available They could have hardly done less Not so apparent perhaps was the fact that in)ury had a very important material aspect He was not only a great lad from the viewpoint of personal valuation he was a business investment and as such was worth many times his weight in gold both to himself and to his employers When he went down he was commanding in wages for himself something like $50000 a year and during 1923 he had netted his employers a total of the record for annual earnings Every bone in his body every drop of blood in his veins was therefore something literally and extremely precious The process of restoring him to health and soundness became then not only a necessary humanitarian act but the reconstruction of a valuable dividend yielding machine hen he first examined the jockey just after he had been brought in unconscious from the track Dr Grayson thought that he might have serious intetnal injuries The nature of the accident certainly made this seem likely Sande was riding Spurt of the Butler Stable an obscure long shot as it happened for Sande never picked and chose his horses And though he got awav to a good start Bother with Shank3 up passed him on the outside before the quarter post was reached A second later Senor ridden by Marinelli swerved across the track and plunged into the Butler colt Spurt and his rider went down with a sickening jolt The two other horses immediately behind plunged into them and also went down burying Sande beneath the struggling heap Only Senor managed to keep his feet and fighting loose finished third in the race only to be disbarred for his part in the accident The track marshal rushed to the scene with a stretcher and Sande broken bleeding and stupefied with his pain was rushed to the quarters It was not however until he was carried to a nearbv hospital that the attending physicians were able to get any idea of the extent of his injuries Meanwhile Dr James I Russell of Roosevelt Hospital New York and one of the most eminent surgical experts in the country had been summoned by James Widener prominent sportsman and it was under Dr care that the jockey was taken to New York and the delicate business of reconstruction begun X-ray examinations revealed that all of injuries were on the left side The left clavicle or collar-bone and a lower left rib were fractured the left thigh bone was shattered at the hip and fractured jut above the knee and the tibia or shin-bone was fractured above the ankle The first reaction to this discovery in the minds of everybody concerned was that Sande would never rule again Even now it is not at all certain but Dr Russell is more optimistic and Sande himself is determined though a doubleheaded obstacle in his way In the first place the most serious of his injuries the shattered thigh bone is such that it will yield to nothing but natural processes Doctors can help but Nature must do most of the work Only time will tell just how successful the healing operation has been The other breaks being comparatively simple have been set and cemented and barring unforeseen accidents will become normal Then again Sande will inevitably take on a great deal of weight during the period of convalescence which means that even if he should fully recover he may hate a second struggle get- skill and daring in the saddle He also became a horse owner at an extremely early age A neighbor had caught a wild pony but waa unable to do anything with him Earl saw the pony a proud lithe cream-colored creature being led through the streets by a halter He had an overpowering desire to possess him Fortunately for his ambitions the ow ner was willing enough to part with the pony even for the modest sum that Earl as able to raise Earl gentled the horse without the slightest difficulty but no one else was ever able to nde him Young Sande participated in many of the community riding events He did broncho-busting stunts Roman nding and steer roping though he w'a3 never strong enough to hold the steer clown During one of thee events he came under the eye of a travelling rodeo promoter who per-suaded the boy to go with him to Salt Lake City From there he drifted to New Orleans where he got his first chance in 1917 Joe Goodman a well-known Western horse owner had seen him riding a few trial heats and gave the boy a contract 1 In Ins first professional race Sande came in second and according to his own admission he handle his horse for all he was worth Goodman however tieated him Indulgently and gave him other chances On January 22 1918 he won his first victory taking Princess across the line at the head of a large field After that he never rode a bad race in his life though he often rode horses tiiat hardly deserved to bear his distinguished In this same year Goodman transferred contract to Johnson Kane and he was riding for their stable when Bedwrll noticed his work Bedwell at the time was handling Hie big stable of Commander Ross owner ot Sir Bartou and other sensational thorouplibi eds Un der this new management Sande quickly became the leading fTiT rider A But despite reputation Commander Ross gave the mount of Sir Barton to Frank Keougli at the time of the big match race 'I his broke heart When the race was called Sande was sitting down beside the track his head in his hands weeping like a child On account of this incident Sande passed over to the employ of Harrv Sinclair owner of the Rancocas Stable He was alieady a great rider but under the tutelage of Sam Hildreth trainer he became one oi the in historv Very properiv he was given tile mount on 7ev in his race against the English horse Papyrus and took him to victorv Sande was married In 1521 to Mis Manon Casev Sam niece Mrs Sande like the surgeons wa'ehes his slow progress with hopeful eye The surgeors hope to rebuild his broken bones into golden dividends But Mrs Sande doesn care if he never ndeg again All she wants is for him to ba sound again and to mile his golden Smile unlioubled by pain.