Hubert "Sonny" Hine

Sonny Hine, a New York City native who became a fixture on the Maryland racing circuit, is best known as the trainer of Hall of Famer Skip Away, the 1998 Horse of the Year.

Inducted

2003

Born

Jan. 9, 1931, New York City, New York

Died

March 17, 2000, Miami, Florida

Career

1957-2000

Wins

1,314

Earnings

$31,060,450

Racing Record

15.4

Win %

Biography

Sonny Hine, a New York City native who became a fixture on the Maryland racing circuit, is best known as the trainer of Hall of Famer Skip Away, the 1998 Horse of the Year.

Hine became a full-time trainer in 1957 and won his first stakes race in 1972 with Softly in the Tri-State Futurity. Before becoming a trainer, Hine attended Yale University for a year and spent time in the Air Force. While later enrolled in a pre-veterinary course at Pennsylvania State University, Hine was contacted by the United States Department of State to become a special investigator in Hong Kong, allowing him to become fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Skip Away became Hine’s signature horse. He defeated Cigar in the 1996 Jockey Club Gold Cup to secure the Eclipse Award for 3-Year-Old Male that year. Skip Away subsequently won the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Woodward, Suburban, Pimlico Special, Hollywood Gold Cup, and a second Jockey Club Gold Cup and was Horse of the Year in 1998. Overall, he finished worse than third only four times in 38 starts and earned more than $9.6 million.

Other top horses trained by Hine included Amber Pass, Bet Big, Norquestor, Technology, and Guilty Conscience, the 1981 Eclipse Award winner for Champion Sprint Horse.

Hine also won the Massachusetts Handicap and the Gulfstream Handicap three times each, as well as two editions of the Haskell Invitational, Carter Handicap, Ohio Derby, and Pegasus Handicap. His victories also included the Vosburgh Stakes, Arlington Classic, Florida Derby, Suburban Handicap, Donn Handicap, and Pennsylvania Derby.

Overall, Hine won 1,314 races, including 126 stakes (54 graded).