Hill Prince: Meadow Stable's First Star

By Bob Ehalt

Content Courtesy of America's Best Racing

Long before Secretariat and Riva Ridge carried the colors of Meadow Stable to Triple Crown glory, those blue and white checkered silks of the Chenery family were made famous by one of the best horses of an earlier generation.

Hill Prince was a champion at 2, 3 and 4, and with 17 wins in 30 career starts was the first star for owner Christopher T. Chenery and what would become the famed Meadow Stable. Some 23 years before Secretariat's unforgettable sweep in 1973 for Christopher's daughter, Penny, it was Hill Prince who gave Chenery and his family their first taste of Triple Crown success and laid the foundation for a farm that would also become home to other champions such as First Landing and Cicada.

A son of Princequillo out of Chenery's mare Hildene, Hill Prince made his career debut on July 2, 1949 at Aqueduct Racetrack for trainer J. H. "Casey" Hayes. With the great Eddie Arcaro in the saddle, he cruised to a seven-length victory to begin a practically perfect 2-year-old season.

After an allowance victory at Monmouth Park, Hill Prince then finished second by a length after an awkward start in the Sapling Stakes at the Jersey Shore track, but that would prove to be his first and only setback in 1949.

Hill Prince then reeled off victories in an allowance race at Monmouth, the World's Playground Stakes at Atlantic City, and the Babylon and Cowdin, both at Aqueduct, to finish the year with six wins in seven starts and was voted the year's champion 2-year-old male by Daily Racing Form.

At 3, Hill Prince won the Wood Memorial by two lengths over King Ranch's Middleground in his third start of his sophomore year and headed to Churchill Downs as one of the horses to beat in the 1950 Kentucky Derby.

Sent off as the 5-2 second choice behind Your Host, Hill Prince had a troubled trip and settled for second, a length and a quarter behind Middleground.

According to the DRF chart of the 76th Kentucky Derby, Hill Prince "was in close quarters at the upper turn, continued willingly when clear, and, after suffering some interference from the tiring Your Host, closed resolutely, but could not overtake Middleground."

A week after the Derby, Hill Prince avenged his loss in the Run for the Roses and notched a length and a half win over Middleground in the mile-long Withers at Belmont Park.

Hill Prince then moved on to the Preakness on the following Saturday, where the wagering public enthusiastically backed him and bet him down to a 3-5 favorite. He responded with what might have been the very best performance of his career. Third in the early stages, Arcaro guided Chenery's fleet colt to a clear lead by the time the field hit the backstretch and from there he breezed to a five-length victory over Middleground.

"He was restrained in the Derby," Christopher Chenery said. "In the Preakness we let him run the way he wanted to."

After finishing third against older horses in the Suburban Handicap when he bled, Hill Prince and Middleground had their rubber match in the Belmont Stakes.

Hill Prince set the early pace in the mile and a half "Test of the Champion" as he carved out the early fractions of 48 2/5 seconds and 1:12 3/5, but fatigue set in and he faded to seventh behind his victorious nemesis, Middleground.

A runner-up finish in the Dwyer followed, but Hill Prince then registered wins in the American Derby, Jerome Handicap and then a four-length score over world-record setter Noor, the year's champion handicap horse, in the two-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Sent west to California to conclude the year, the Virginia-bred was third in the Thanksgiving Day Handicap to Your Host and Hollywood Gold Cup to Noor, but ended 1950 on a winning note by defeating the year's champion 3-year-old filly, Next Move, in the Sunset Handicap.

In the end, with eight wins and 15 starts, it was enough to earn Hill Prince accolades as Horse of the Year in all three polls, the Daily Racing Form, Thoroughbred Racing Association, and Turf and Sport Digest.

A broken bone in his right leg sidelined Hill Prince until September of 1951 and in his third start of the year he posted a decisive five-length triumph in the New York Handicap. His bid for back-to-back Jockey Club Gold Cup wins was thwarted by a head loss to eventual Horse of the Year Counterpoint. He was second to Counterpoint in the Empire City Gold Cup at Jamaica Park and fourth in the Trenton Handicap at Garden State in his final start of the year.

Even though, he owned just one stakes win in 1951, Hill Prince's reputation was strong enough to convince Daily Racing Form and Thoroughbred Racing Association voters to choose him as the year's champion handicap horse.

In 1952, he returned to California and won the San Marcos Handicap at Santa Anita Park on Feb. 9. He was then sent off in a 6-5 favored entry in the richest race of his career, the $141,000 Santa Anita Handicap, but fell 21 lengths off the lead in the early stages of the race and wound up fifth.

A filling was later found in Hill Prince's leg and Chenery decided to retire his three-time champion.

He left the racetrack with those 17 wins from 30 starts as well five seconds and four thirds for earnings of $422,100.

He also gave the Chenery family its first Triple Crown victory, though it was hardly their last.

Fun Facts:

Hill Prince entered the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991.

He was voted 75th in Blood-Horse magazine's list of the top 100 horses of the 20th Century.

Hildene, the dam of Hill Prince, also produced Meadow Stable's First Landing, the champion 2-year-old male of 1958.

Hill Prince was favored in 24 of his 30 starts.

Belmont Park is home to the Hill Prince Stakes, a grade III stakes on turf for 3-year-olds. Hill Prince never raced on turf.

The 1950 Preakness attracted just six starters and there was no show wagering.

Meadow Stable had four Kentucky Derby starters with two wins, Hill Prince's second and a third.