Hill Gail
Encyclopedia
Hill Gail was an American
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...

 racehorse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

. Bred and raced by the renowned Calumet Farm
Calumet Farm
Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of Lexington's blue grass country, the finest horse breeding region in...

 of Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

, the son of Champion sire
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...

, Bull Lea
Bull Lea
Bull Lea was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is best known as the foundation sire responsible for making Calumet Farm one of the most successful racing stables in American history...

, Hill Gail is best known as the winner of the 1952 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...

.

Hill Gail was trained by Ben Jones
Ben A. Jones
Benjamin Allyn Jones was a thoroughbred horse trainer.Born in Parnell, Missouri, Ben Jones went into the business of breeding and training of thoroughbreds during the first decade of the 20th century, racing his horses on small circuits in the American West and in Mexico...

 for races in the East while his son Jimmy
Horace A. Jones
Horace A. "Jimmy" Jones was an American thoroughbred horse trainer.The son of Hall of Fame horse trainer Ben A. Jones, Jimmy Jones was born in Parnell, Missouri...

 handled the colt's conditioning in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. En route to his Derby win, at age two, Hill Gail set a new Arlington Park
Arlington Park
Arlington Park is a horse race track in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Horse racing in the Chicago region has been a popular sport since the early days of the city in the 1830s, and at one time Chicago had more horse racing tracks than any other major metropolitan area...

 track record for six furlongs while defeating Tom Fool
Tom Fool
Tom Fool was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, a winner of the American Horse of the Year award and a Hall of Fame inductee. He sired the outstanding racehorses Buckpasser and Tim Tam....

 to win the 1951 Arlington Futurity
Arlington-Washington Futurity Stakes
The Arlington-Washington Futurity Stakes is a Grade III flat horse race for Thoroughbred two-year-olds. It is raced over a distance of 8 furlongs, or one mile, on Polytrack synthetic dirt at Arlington Park, Arlington Heights, Illinois every fall and currently offers a purse of $150,000.It was run...

. At age three, the colt equaled the Keeneland Race Course record for six furlongs in winning the 1952 Phoenix Handicap
Phoenix Stakes (United States)
The Phoenix Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky. Open to horses age three and older, it is contested on dirt over a distance of six furlongs and currently offers a purse of $250,000...

 and set a new Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs, located in Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, is a Thoroughbred racetrack most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby annually. It officially opened in 1875, and held the first Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Oaks in the same year. Churchill Downs...

 track record for 8 furlongs in his Derby Trial
Derby Trial
The Derby Trial Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the end of April at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Held one week before the Kentucky Derby, it was first run in 1924 and every year since, with the exception of 1928...

 victory.

Sent off as the heavy betting favorite
Parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...

 in the Kentucky Derby, Hill Gail did not disappoint and won the first leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series by two lengths. An injury kept Hill Gail out of the ensuing two Preakness
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...

 and 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...

.

Racing at age four and again at age five, Hill Gail met with modest success, but did not win a significant Graded stakes race
Graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...

. At the end of the 1954 racing season, he was retired to stud duty and sent to Brownstown Stud in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 for the 1955 season. As a sire, his son Martial
Martial (horse)
Martial was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1960 British Classic, the 2,000 Guineas Stakes. He was out of the mare Discipliner and sired by the 1952 Kentucky Derby winner, Hill Gail...

 won the 1959 Coventry Stakes
Coventry Stakes
The Coventry Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old thoroughbreds. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 6 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in June....

 and one of the 1960 British Classic Races, the 2,000 Guineas. However, Hill Gail's other offspring met with only limited success in racing on European grass surfaces. He died there in 1968. A plaque to his memory is in the Calumet Farm horse cemetery.
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