Once before, in 1878, Pierre Lorillard had sent a number of yearlings to England in the hopes of an American horse winning an important English race.

Due to Parole's sensational wins, that effort proved so successful that in 1880, he sent a second group, including Iroquois.

Even so, England's champion jockey, Fred Archer (called "The Tin Man"), was there that day and asked for the mount in the Epsom Derby even though he was contracted to ride the horses of Lord Falmouth.

Iroquois and Archer (in the cherry and black colors of Lorillard) beat the favorite, Peregrine, by a neck on June 1, 1881.

Iroquois' victory made him a byword in the United States; there was an immediate upswing in American racetrack attendance.

As a winner of the Derby and the St. Leger, if Iroquois had won the 2,000 Guineas instead of coming in second, he would have taken England's Triple Crown.

In 1886, Iroquois was purchased by William Hicks Jackson, a former Confederate Civil War general to stand stud at Belle Meade, a thoroughbred horse farm.