Hillstar is a bay horse with a white blaze bred at the Rothschild family's Southcourt Stud near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire.

At Leicester Racecourse on 16 October he started 2/1 favourite for a similar event and recorded his first success as he took the lead inside the final furlong and won by three quarters of a length from Flashlight.

[7] Over the same course and distance five weeks later, Hillstar was moved up to the highest class and matched against older horses in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

[9] In August, Hillstar was dropped back in distance for the ten and a half furlong International Stakes at York Racecourse and came home fourth of the six runners behind Declaration of War, Trading Leather and Al Kazeem.

[10] For his first run as a four-year-old Hillstar was sent to the United Arab Emirates and finished towards the rear of the field in the Dubai World Cup (won by African Story) on the synthetic Tapeta track at Meydan Racecourse in March.

When dropped to Group 3 class for the Rose of Lancaster Stakes at Haydock Park in August he finished second for the fourth consecutive time as he was beaten a length and a quarter by the outsider Amralah.

Michael Stoute was unable to attend but expressed the hope that his brother Douglas, the Dean and Rector of the Toronto's Anglican Cathedral might bring the horse "good fortune".

[12] Hillstar's opponents included Big Blue Kitten, The Pizza Man, Dynamic Sky (Red Smith Handicap), Reporting Star (Play the King Stakes) and War Dancer (Virginia Derby), but the race went ahead without Brown Panther, who unseated his rider and bolted before the start.

With Moore in the saddle, Hillstar raced in fifth place as Reporting Star and The Pizza Man set the early pace, but moved up on the outside in the straight to take the lead a furlong out.