The Life of Fred Archer 169 
think it was the odds was Archer, and when he could not ride 
Peregrine he begged of Pincus to be allowed to ride Iroquois, 
and naturally the American trainer was only too pleased to 
accept the offer. 
The story of the race is soon told. When Fred Webb asked 
Peregrine to challenge the leaders he swerved away from the 
rails. That was one of the openings Archer loved, and he 
promptly took the inside position. The two were soon clear, 
but Iroquois was the better horse, and the struggle between 
them was soon over. 
The scenes in America were most enthusiastic when the 
code word, " Iropertow," which meant Iroquois i, Peregrine 
2, Town Guard 3, was flashed across the Atlantic cable. Busi- 
ness was suspended in Wall Street and on the Stock Exchange, 
while the cheering was loud and long. It was even suggested 
that a bronze statue of Iroquois should be erected in a public 
park in New York. Poets let their pens run, and one wrote 
before the race : 
" Flushed red are American faces ! 
Hurrah ! for old Leamington's son : 
You'll show the Pale Briton how races 
Across the Atlantic are won. 
Dash on as if life was at venture. 
And news shall unloosen the cork 
From seas of champagne at Newmarket 
And oceans of " fizz " at New York ! " 
It is said that on the day after the Derby Archer was coming 
out of the weighing-room when a total stranger walked up to 
him and said : " Mr. Archer, if you will let me take you over 
to the States and exhibit you for two months I will give you 
£10,000 before you start." Archer refused, but he little knew 
under what sad circumstances he would visit New York two 
years later. 
The victory of Iroquois in the Derby and the St. Leger 
made Archer as popular in America as he was in England — a 
fact which he discovered when he visited the former country 
in 1884. 
