Fitz Herbert

Fitz Herbert (1906-not found) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by Perry Belmont, he was owned by trainer A. J. Joyner, who sold him in early 1908 to Herman Brandt for $3,500. Later that year, Brandt sold the colt to trainer Sam Hildreth.

For Hildreth, he was ridden by jockey Cal Shilling and earned back-to-back United States Horse of the Year awards. His major victories came in long races, something his trainer specialized in. In the 1909 Lawrence Realization Handicap, the horse set a world record for a 1-5/8 mile race. His race record in 1909 was fifteen starts with fourteen wins and one second. His only loss came to a filly named Affliction.^[1] Lightly raced in 1910, he won two races and finished second in his other two starts.^[2]

In a deal described by the New York Times as the "biggest sale in years," in February 1910 Hildreth sold Fitz Herbert for $40,000 to Charles Kohler, owner of Ramapo Stock Farm in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey. Due to the legislated ban on parimutuel betting by the state of New York, a few weeks later Fitz Herbert and other horses owned by Kohler were shipped to stables at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse in France where he was conditioned to compete in steeplechase racing.

References

1. ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9902E0D91530E233A25752C0A9609C946196D6CF
2. ↑ http://www.drf.com/news/history-challenge-brooklyn-handicap

• Fitz Herbert's pedigree and racing stats