William A. "Bill" Hurley (c.1871 - September 12, 1952) was an American

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...

Thoroughbred horse racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in ...

. He is best remembered for his more than two decades as a trainer for Col. Edward R. Bradley's

Idle Hour Stock Farm Idle Hour Stock Farm was a 400-acre (1.6 km2) thoroughbred horse breeding and training farm near Lexington, Kentucky, United States established in 1906 by Colonel Edward R. Bradley. Beginning with the sire, Black Toney, and a roster of quali ...

. Among Bill Hurley's early victories was a win with Kalitan in his first

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also 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 () o ...

in 1917, a race he would win again twenty-three years later. He trained Bagenbaggage, who won the 1926 Latonia and

Louisiana Derby The Louisiana Derby is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Run in late March, the race is open to horses, age three, willing to race miles on the dirt. It currently o ...

s and was second in the Kentucky Derby to stablemate, Bubbling Over. That same year Hurley also won the 1926

American Derby The American Derby is a Thoroughbred horse race in the United States run annually at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The inaugural American Derby was held at Chicago's old Washington Park Race Track on the city's South Side and ra ...

with Boot to Boot, beating both Display and

Black Maria Black Maria may refer to: Art and literature * Black Mariah (comics), a character in the Luke Cage comics series * Black Maria, a character in the manga series ''One Piece'' * ''Black Maria'' (novel), a 1991 novel by Diana Wynne Jones *''Blac ...

. In 1935, Bill Hurley won the

Florida Derby The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Since 2005, it has been run five weeks before the Kentucky Derby, which is held on the first Sat ...

Coaching Club American Oaks The Coaching Club American Oaks is a race for thoroughbred three-year-old fillies and the second leg of the Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing. Originally run at Belmont Park, the Grade I $500,000 stakes race was moved to Saratoga Race Course in ...

and

with the great filly and 1991 U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Black Helen. Another of Hurley's important Hall of Fame horses was Bimelech who earned U.S. Champion 2-Yr-Old Colt and 3-Year-Old honors in 1939 and 1940 respectively, and who just missed winning the U.S. Triple Crown when he finished second in the 1940 Kentucky Derby then won both the

Preakness Preakness may refer to: * The Preakness or Preakness Stakes, an American flat thoroughbred horse race held in Baltimore, Maryland * Preakness (horse), an American thoroughbred racehorse from Preakness Stables * Preakness, New Jersey, a section of W ...

and Belmont Stakes. After 46 years with Idle Hour Stock Farm, Bill Hurley retired from racing in 1940. He died at age 81 in 1952 at Doctors Hospital in

Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the ...

.New York Times - September 13, 1952
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References

1952 deaths American horse trainers Sportspeople from Rochester, New York Year of birth uncertain {{US-horseracing-bio-stub