[1] Born in Independence, Missouri, Sam Hildreth began his training career in 1887, competing at racetracks in the Midwestern United States with such horses as the good racemare Hurley Burley, the dam of Burgomaster.

In 1909, Hildreth also won his second Belmont Stakes with his own horse, Joe Maddon, and went on to capture the first of three consecutive leading owner and trainer honors in the United States.

On November 2, 1911, the New York Times reported that Sam Hildreth and jockey Carroll Shilling had sailed to England aboard the RMS Mauretania with the intent of racing there for the stable of American owner, Charles Kohler.

However, Kohler subsequently set up operations in France and in 1912 Sam Hildreth trained a stable of horses for him at Val-d'Oise, near Paris.

He also met with great success training for Rancocas Stable owned by wealthy oil industrialist Harry F. Sinclair.

After forty-three years as a horse trainer, Sam Hildreth died at a hospital in Manhattan, New York following an unsuccessful operation for an intestinal disorder.