Sir Hercules was bred by Mr Lang in the north of Ireland and was the first foal of his dam Peri (b f 1822 Wanderer). Peri was bred by Lord Egremont and sold to Mr Lang who bred her to Whalebone and sent her to Ireland. Both Sir Hercules and Peri were sold to Lord Langford (1795-1839), 2nd Baron Langford, in 1828 although Peri returned to England several times to visit English stallions before her death in 1847. Sir Hercules was a half brother to Langford (br c 1833 Starch) who was a stallion in America.

Undefeated as a two-year old in Ireland, he went to England as a three-year old where he won the Claret Stakes and finished third for the Great St Leger Stakes at Doncaster. There was some feeling that he was tampered with before the St Leger and his jockey, Connolly, was said to have expressed grief over the manner in which Sir Hercules was treated. It was taken as a measure of his gameness that he finished so well as he did.

He retired first to the Langford stud at Summer Hill in County Meath, Ireland, but in 1833 at the sale of Lord Langford's stud at Doncaster he was sold to "an American gentleman" for 750 guineas by Richard Tattersall. Apparently there was concern over sending him across the pond so late in the season and he was resold to Mr Weatherby and relocated to Dawley Wall, a stud farm near Uxbridge belonging to Mr Tattersall. He was then shuffled through numerous studs, few of which appear to have been to his benefit. The next two years were spent at East Acton. He was subsequently leased to Mr Stovin who had him at Small Heath, near Birmingham for the season of 1837, however he returned to East Acton, near London, where he remained until his owner died. Sir Hercules was then sold to the Right Hon Sidney Herbert (later Lord Lea) who sent him to Wilton, near Salisbury, and was said to have restricted access to only his own mares. When Mr Herbert sold his stud Sir Hercules was acquired by Mr Phillips, who found his new horse at a livery stable in London and in very poor condition. Once Sir Hercules arrived at Bushbury he was said to have been treated with the greatest care and to have recovered his vitality.

He was noted for the silver hairs on his flanks and quarters and at the root of his tail, which he often passed on to his descendants. The 'bonny black" was described as a "round-made horse, in which shape he was followed by his son Birdcatcher, though not by his two other famous sons Coronation and Faugh-a-Ballagh, both of whom were larger and more lengthy than their sire". He stood close to fifteen hands two inches and was said to be rather a close-knit horse, of excellent substance, with room for no more than a saddle on his back.

Without doubt his best son was Birdcatcher (ch c 1833) through whom the Eclipse Sire Line to Phalaris (br c 1913 Polymelus) was perpetuated. Sir Hercules died in 1855.