^THE AMERICAN YEAR; iSSt. 167 



the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Ascot, over one of the 

 most trying courses in England ; and the horse did all 

 that he was asked to do on that occasion : he won the 

 race, which was even denied to Lord Lyon, who was 

 compelled to put up with second honours to Rustic. 

 When in health Iroijuois never tired of work — that 

 was one of the thine^s he never cfot enouij^h of — nor 

 did he ever tire of eating the good Scotch oats on 

 v/hich he was fed. All who took an interest in 

 Iroquois may rest assured that had it not been for 

 Jacob Pincus the horse would never have cut that 

 fitjure on the English race-courses that has made him 

 so celebrated. 



A feature of the American 3'ear was the success 

 of Mr. Walton — ' the plunger/ as he was called. The 

 word in question is applied to persons who bet in 

 large sums ; and the bookmakers as a body are not at 

 all slow to do business with the ' plungers,' as it is a 

 tradition of the fraternity that they are sure to get all 

 the money won by a ' plunger ' back again, and much 

 more in addition to it. Mr. Walton, the American 

 'plunger,' has told his own story, the relation of his 

 adventures on the English race-courses as a backer of 

 horses having been made to one of the gentlemen who 

 interviews celebrities of all kinds for the New York 

 Herald. Some of Mr. Walton's confessions are not a 

 little astounding ; in the first place, there is the mag- 

 nitude of his v.'innings — these amounted to £93,000 

 net money. Mr. Walton's perseverance in seeking 

 information attracted the attention of our English 

 turf-writers. He was accused of bribing jockeys or 

 other persons, in order to obtain the requisite kuow- 



