Bred by Perry Belmont, he was owned by trainer A. J. Joyner, who sold him in early 1908 to Herman Brandt for $3,500.

For Hildreth, he was ridden by jockey Cal Shilling and earned back-to-back United States Horse of the Year awards.

[4] In a deal described by The New York Times as the "biggest sale in years," in February 1910 Hildreth sold Fitz Herbert for $40,000 to Charles Kohler, owner of Ramapo Stock Farm in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey.

Due to the legislated ban on parimutuel betting by the state of New York, a few weeks later Fitz Herbert and other horses owned by Kohler were shipped to stables at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse in France where he was conditioned to compete in steeplechase racing.

Fitz Herbert later stood at stud at Clarence Mackay's Haras de Fresnay farm in Normandy, where he had some success.