Hindoo (horse)
Encyclopedia
Hindoo 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.
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..
, 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.
. 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.
, who became the leading sire in the United States for four consecutive years.
Hindoo also sired the following good racehorses:
Hindoo died July 4, 1901 at Runnymede Stud in Paris, Kentucky
. 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.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
race horse who won 30 of his 35 starts, including the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
, the Travers Stakes
Travers Stakes
The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...
and the Clark Handicap
Clark Handicap
The Clark Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November/early December at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Among the oldest races in the United States, it was first run in 1875, the year the racetrack opened for business...
. He later sired the Preakness Stakes
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
winner Buddhist and the Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
winner and Leading sire in North America
Leading sire in North America
The list below shows the leading sire of Thoroughbred racehorses in North America for each year since 1830. This is determined by the amount of prizemoney won by the sire's progeny during the year...
, Hanover.
He was a bay colt bred by Daniel Swigert of Elmendorf Farm
Elmendorf Farm
Elmendorf Farm is a Kentucky Thoroughbred horse farm in Fayette County, Kentucky, and has been involved with horse racing since the early 19th century...
in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. Hindoo was sired by Virgil
Virgil (horse)
Virgil was an American thoroughbred racehorse that was bred in Kentucky by Hyman C. Gratz. He was a brown to dark bay stallion, was approximately 16 hands high and had a prominent white star on his forehead.[2] His sire, Vandal, was the second leading sire of the time, behind the great Lexington...
(sire of the Kentucky Derby winners, Vagrant
Vagrant (horse)
Vagrant, was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that is best known for his 1876 Kentucky Derby win. Vagrant was the first of nine geldings to win the Kentucky Derby and was a white-stockinged bay colt sired by Virgil out of the mare Lazy . Virgil was notable for breeding successful nineteenth...
and Ben Ali
Ben Ali (horse)
Ben Ali was the winner of the 1886 Kentucky Derby and was named after his owner James Ben Ali Haggin, a man of Turkish heritage that had struck gold in the California Gold Rush of 1849. Ben Ali was foaled in Kentucky and was a large bay colt sired by Virgil. His damsire was also the great...
), his dam Florence was by the great racehorse and sire Lexington
Lexington (horse)
Lexington was a United States Thoroughbred race horse who won six of his seven race starts. Perhaps his greatest fame came however as the most successful sire of the second half of the nineteenth century; he was the Leading sire in North America 16 times, and of his many brood mare and racer...
. 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 FameNational Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
inductee, Edward D. Brown
Edward D. Brown
Edward Dudley Brown was an African American born as a slave who rose to become a Belmont Stakes-winning jockey, a Kentucky Derby-winning horse trainer, and an owner of several of the top racehorses during the last decade of the 19th century, earning him induction into the United States Racing Hall...
. Hindoo was sold for $15,000 during his two-year-old season to the Dwyer Brothers Stable
Dwyer Brothers Stable
Dwyer Brothers Stable was an American thoroughbred horse racing operation owned by Brooklyn, New York businessmen, Phil and Mike Dwyer.The Dwyer brothers hired trainer Evert Snedecker and purchased their first Thoroughbred, Rhadamanthus, in 1874. In October of that same year they acquired Vigil...
of Mike
Michael F. Dwyer
Michael F. Dwyer was an American businessman from Brooklyn, New York and prominent owner of Thoroughbred racehorses and racetracks...
and Phil Dwyer, Hindoo's training was taken over by another future Hall of Fame inductee, James G. Rowe, Sr..
1881 Kentucky Derby
Hindoo was a 3-1 favorite heading into Kentucky Derby. Ridden by Jim McLaughlinJim McLaughlin
James "Jim" McLaughlin was an American thoroughbred race horse jockey.Orphaned and homeless in his early teens, McLaughlin was taken in by horse trainer William Daly who taught him how to ride. While individual statistics from all of McLaughlin's career races aren't documented, McLaughlin began...
, 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 TrackSheepshead Bay Race Track
Sheepshead Bay Race Track was an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility built on the site of the Coney Island Jockey Club at Sheepshead Bay, New York...
. 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
United States Hotel Stakes
The United States Hotel Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in the late summer or early autumn until 1955 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It was run on dirt over a distance of six furlongs...
, 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
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
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.
At stud
Standing his first season at stud, Hindoo’s mating with Bourbon Belle produced the champion HanoverHanover (thoroughbred horse)
Hanover was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse that won his first 17 race starts. He was the only American stallion to head the Leading sire in North America list for four consecutive years until Bold Ruler did so in 1965.-Background:...
, who became the leading sire in the United States for four consecutive years.
Hindoo also sired the following good racehorses:
- Buddhist a Preakness StakesPreakness StakesThe Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
winner - Jim Gore, who won the Clark Handicap
- Sallie McLelland (1888), a good race-mare who later produced the Kentucky OaksKentucky OaksThe Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers 1⅛ miles at Churchill Downs; the horses carry 121 pounds . The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Friday before the Kentucky Derby each year...
winner Audience
Hindoo died July 4, 1901 at Runnymede Stud in Paris, Kentucky
Paris, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,183 people, 3,857 households, and 2,487 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 4,222 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 84.23% White, 12.71% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.16%...
. Following the creation of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
in 1955, he was one of the first handful of horses inducted.