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Old 07-02-2011, 08:53 AM
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Calzone Lord Calzone Lord is offline
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Default Plunger Walton's great rise and fall

The New York Times cleverly ended Plunger Walton's obituary with Walton defining heaven and hell - and his claim he was as old as God.






Walton was from Philly and had a street-cleaning business. He was the first big American bettor to be nicknamed "Plunger" - that was what the English newspapers first referred to him as when he showed up in England and absolutely startled bookmakers with his super aggressive tactics.

Walton would sometimes bet as much as $100,000 on a race (that would obviously translate to millions of dollars today) ... (my understanding is the English bookmakers were backed by extremely wealthy people and offered credit)

He won $320,000 in two seasons in America - and over $400,000 in his first season in Europe - before a conspiracy would ruin him.







Walton bought up a lot of horses. At his (very short-lived) peak, he owned a stable of over 120 horses - many he imported. A remarkable amount when you consider yearly foal crops were about 30 times smaller back then. It would be like an owner today having 3,600 horses.

Walton's betting success helped him take charge of New York city hotels such as The Grand Hotel, The St. James, and the Brighton Beach hotel.

It wasn't long before Walton's betting failed him and his stable of horses and hotels diminished to zero.

When all seemed lost ... he found one last chance in the hotel game.





He failed. Once a big celeb - he vanished from the spotlight for many years until his death. He died practically broke.
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