Hourless

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Hourless


caption =
sire = Negofol
grandsire = Childwick
dam = Hour Glass
damsire = Rock Sand
sex = Stallion
foaled = 1914
country = Great Britain flagicon|UK
colour = Dark Bay/Brown
breeder = August Belmont, Jr.
owner = August Belmont, Jr.
trainer = Sam Hildreth
record = 15: 9-1-2
earnings = $45,175
race = Juvenile Stakes (1916)
Grand Union Hotel Stakes (1916)
Eastern Shore Handicap (1916)
Hopeful Stakes (1916)
Annapolis Stakes (1916)
Withers Stakes (1917)
John R. McLean Memorial Championship (1917)

American Classic Race wins:
Belmont Stakes (1917)
awards = American Co-Champion 3-Yr-Old Male Horse (1917)
honours =
updated= July 14, 2008

Hourless (1914-1935) was a British-born Thoroughbred racehorse who raced in theAmerican where he won the Belmont Stakes. Bred at August Belmont, Jr.'s Haras de Villers in Foucarmont in Upper Normandy, France, he was foaled in England. He was sired by French-bred Negofol, who would later be imported to stand at Xalapa Farm in Kentucky where he would sire Preakness Stakes winner, Coventry. His mare was Hour Glass who was bred in France but then sent to England, where Hourless was born at Southcourt Stud in Southcote, Bedfordshire, owned by Leopold de Rothschild. With World War I raging in Europe, in 1915 both Hour Glass and Hourless were brought to the United States.

Raced by August Belmont, Jr., Hourless was trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Sam Hildreth. In 1916 he was one of the top two-year-olds in the United States, winning a number of important races including the Grand Union Hotel Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. For the year, he was ranked second only to Campfire.

In his three-year-old season, no U.S. Triple Crown series had yet been formalized and Hourless did not run in the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness Stakes which were held on the same day. [http://www.turfnsport.com/triplecrown/preakness-stakes.php] Ridden by another future Hall of Fame inductee, jockey Jimmy Butwell, in 1917 Hourless won the 1 mile Withers Stakes and set a new record in winning the then 1 3/8 mile Belmont Stakes. After other entrants were scratched, the October 18, 1917 John R. McLean Memorial Championship at Laurel Park Racecourse in Maryland turned into a match race between Hourless and Wilfrid Viau's Kentucky Derby winner, Omar Khayyam. Earlier that year, Omar Khayyam had beaten Hourless in the Lawrence Realization Stakes and in the Brooklyn Derby. This time, however, Hourless won by a length and at the end of the year shared the 1917 American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse honors.

A successful sire

Retired to stud, Hourless notably sired Mike Hall, the 1928 American Champion Older Male Horse and Charley O. won the 1930 Florida Derby. One of his best sons was Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee and 1934 King's Plate winner, Horometer. Among the daughters of Hourless, Late Date was the 1935 American Champion Older Female Horse.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/hourless Pedigree and partial racing stats for Hourless]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0DE7DE133BEE3ABC4B53DFB066838C609EDE June 3, 1917 "New York Times" article on Hourless winning the Withers Stakes]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E05E6DF1E3BE03ABC4152DFB667838C609EDE "New York Times" article on the 1917 John R. McLean Memorial Championship]
* [http://www.tbcprojects.com/career.php?search=1462 Hourless's offspring at the Classic Runners database]