Hill Rise (1961–1982) was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse. He was bred at El Peco Ranch in Madera, California by George A. Pope, Jr. (1901–1979) who also owned and bred 1962 Kentucky Derby winner Decidedly. The winner of California Breeders' Champion Stakes at age two, in his three-year-old campaign Hill Rise scored the widest margin of victory in the fastest Santa Anita Derby ever run and was undefeated in 8 starts going into the 1964 Kentucky Derby.
For the Derby, trainer Horatio Luro, who had trained Decidedly, offered Bill Shoemaker the chance to ride his colt Northern Dancer. However, the future Hall of Fame jockey chose to ride the favored Hill Rise instead and wound up 2nd in the Derby and 3rd in the Preakness Stakes to Northern Dancer.
At age four Hill Rise won the Man O' War Stakes on grass and the following year, after racing in the U.S. and winning the San Antonio Handicap, he was sent to race on the grass in England. Of his four races there he won the Rous Memorial Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot Racecourse. His victory made him the first California-bred horse to win a major stakes in the United Kingdom since 1908. The effort earned Hill Rise 1966 Champion Miler honors in the UK.
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The sea swept on and cried her old cry still,
Rolling along in dreams from hill to hill.
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—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
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