Hindoo (horse)

Hindoo
Sire	Virgil
Grandsire	Vandal
Dam	Florence
Damsire	Lexington
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1878
Country	United States
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Daniel Swigert
Owner	Dwyer Brothers Stable Colors: Red, blue sash, red cap
Trainer	Edward D. Brown James G. Rowe, Sr.
Record	35: 30-3-2
Earnings	$71,875
Major wins
Champion Stakes (1881) Clark Handicap (1881) Tidal Stakes (1881) Kenner Stakes (1881) Travers Stakes (1881) United States Hotel Stakes (1881) American Classic Race wins: Kentucky Derby (1881)
Awards
U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old Colt (1880) U.S. Champion 3-Year-Old Colt (1881) U.S. Champion Handicap Horse (1882)
Honours
United States Racing Hall of Fame (1955)
Last updated on 14 September 2010

Hindoo (1878–1901) was an outstanding American Thoroughbred race horse who won 30 of his 35 starts, including the Kentucky Derby, the Travers Stakes and the Clark Handicap. He later sired the Preakness Stakes winner Buddhist and the Belmont Stakes winner and Leading sire in North America, Hanover.

He was a bay colt bred by Daniel Swigert of Elmendorf Farm in Kentucky. Hindoo was sired by Virgil (sire of the Kentucky Derby winners, Vagrant and Ben Ali), his dam Florence was by the great racehorse and sire Lexington. He was a brother to Florida, who was the dam of the very good racemare, Firenze who won 47 of her 82 starts.

Racing record

He was trained by a future Hall of Fame inductee, Edward D. Brown. Hindoo was sold for $15,000 during his two-year-old season to the Dwyer Brothers Stable of Mike and Phil Dwyer, Hindoo's training was taken over by another future Hall of Fame inductee, James G. Rowe, Sr..^[1]

1881 Kentucky Derby

Hindoo was a 3-1 favorite heading into Kentucky Derby. Ridden by Jim McLaughlin, when the race started, Hindoo, as expected, took the lead. Then, at the halfway pole, Lexex took the lead. For Hindoo to lose the lead at this point in the race could be a harbinger of doom. As the horses went into the turn, Hindoo regained the lead, and when he entered the stretch he was in total command and won by four lengths going away.

After the Derby

On September 1, 1881, Hindoo won his 19th consecutive race in a purse event at Sheepshead Bay Race Track. His winning streak ended six days later when he finished third in the September Handicap at Sheepshead.

Hindoo also won: Colt and Filly Stakes, Alexander Stakes, Tennessee Stakes, Juvenile Stakes, Jockey Club Stakes, Criterion Stakes, Tremont Hotel Stakes, Blue Ribbon Stakes, Clark Stakes, Tidal Stakes, Coney Island Stakes, Ocean Stakes, Lorillard Stakes, Monmouth Sweepstakes, Travers Stakes, Sequel Stakes, United States Hotel Stakes, Kenner Stakes, Louisville Cup, Merchants' Stakes, Turf Handicap, Coney Island Handicap, Coney Island Cap, Coney Island Cup, Champion Stakes, Jersey Stakes, and the Leger Stakes.

He placed second in the Day Boat Line Stakes, Brighton Beach Cap, and the Dixiana Stakes. Hindoo finished third in the Windsor Hotel Stakes and the September Cup.

In thirty five starts, Hindoo was never out of the money. He won thirty times, was second three times, and third twice. As a three-year-old, Hindoo won the 1881 Kentucky Derby in a season where he recorded an impressive number of consecutive victories: eighteen straight wins over the course of a few months— nineteen if a dead-heat run-off on the same day is counted. Over the course of his racing career, he won $71,875 making him America's leading money earner. In 1881 he was America's Champion Three-Year-Old Male.^[1]

At stud

Standing his first season at stud, Hindoo’s mating with Bourbon Belle produced the champion Hanover, who became the leading sire in the United States for four consecutive years.

Hindoo also sired the following good racehorses:

• Buddhist a Preakness Stakes winner
• Jim Gore, who won the Clark Handicap
• Sallie McLelland (1888), a good race-mare who later produced the Kentucky Oaks winner Audience

Hindoo died July 4, 1901 at Runnymede Stud in Paris, Kentucky.^[2] Following the creation of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1955, he was one of the first handful of horses inducted.

Tabulated pedigree

See also

• List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses

References

• Hall of Fame page, with images
• America's Champion Three-Year-Old Males