Tommy Loates was born in Derby on 6 October 1867.[2][3] He was regarded as the best of a family of four jockey brothers which included fellow Classic-winner, Sam Loates.[1]
He was apprenticed to Joseph Cannon at Newmarket and was known as "a good lightweight, with very good hands".[1] For Donovan's Derby win, he weighed just 6 1/2 stone. Loates once narrowly escaped death when falling in the Liverpool CuponLord Derby's race mare Birch Rod. He was also badly injured in a fall at Manchester and later married the nurse who tended him. A low point for Loates came in 1891 when his licence to ride was withdrawn by the Jockey Club for his involvement in betting, but he was reinstated the following year.[4]
He died in Brighton, England on 28 September 1910, leaving $1,250,000 in property.[3][5][6] It was believed he had amassed this phenomenal sum ($31.8 million in 2013 prices[7]) because his later employer was the financier Leopold de Rothschild who looked after his investments.
^Mortimer, Roger; Onslow, Richard; Willett, Peter (1978). Biographical Encyclopedia of British Flat Racing. Macdonald and Jane's. p. 350. ISBN0-354-08536-0.
