Fred Hooper's Thoroughbred breeding

[Bast]

Fred Hooper's breeding was highly successful, without following fashion. Although he did send sometimes send mares to well-known outside stallions, he did considerable inbreeding to his own stallions. Here is an example of a horse with eleven crosses of Olympia (a foal of 1946)!

http://www.pedigreequery.com/speedy+diplomat2

Inbred to Olympia 5 X 5 X 5 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7 X 7

An article about Hooper and his breeding:

http://www.equicross.com/TT_Articles/Fred%20Hooper-TT%203-4-06.pdf

[diomed]

Fred Hooper must have been a fan of building up on family #8. Wow! Is that pedigree ever loaded with it through the linebreeding to Olympia.
There are tons of additional 'boosters' throughout the pedigree to add the power to this.
He knew what he was doing and MY GOD, if Speedy Diplomat is servicing mares...Get him some Storm Cat!!!!(another family 8 dynamo).
Oh, and it's not just any branch of 8 here. It's the branch that stems from Honeysuckle.

[Bast]

Fred Hooper must have been a fan of building up on family #8. Wow! Is that pedigree ever loaded with it through the linebreeding to Olympia.
There are tons of additional 'boosters' throughout the pedigree to add the power to this.
He knew what he was doing and MY GOD, if Speedy Diplomat is servicing mares...Get him some Storm Cat!!!!(another family 8 dynamo).
Oh, and it's not just any branch of 8 here. It's the branch that stems from Honeysuckle.

Speedy Diplomat is the one with the most crosses to Olympia that I could find. There are many others with a lot of crosses to Olympia, just not that many. There aren't any progeny listed for him, and he does not appear in the current BH Stallion Register.

Hooper certainly was not breeding for the market. He bred a lot of good horses.

[Shammy Davis]

Fred Hooper was not only a owner and breeder, but he was a great talent scout. He brought Laffit A. Pincay, Jr. to the U. S.

Born 29/12/1946
Career Wins 9, 530

Born in Panama City, Panama Laffit Pincay started his career as a horseman on the Panamanian circuit. Noticing the young riders promising talent, Jockey Club member and horse breeder Fred W. Hooper decided to bring twenty-year-old Pincay to the United States to ride as a sponsored jockey for his stable.

The young jockey took to this new and highly professional environment immediately, starting his almost 40 year career by winning eight of his first eleven races. During his career Pincay won almost every major race on the US calendar, including nine wins in the Hollywood Gold Cup, three consecutive wins in the Belmont Stakes and one precious win in the Kentucky Derby. Pincay retired from professional racing in 2003 but he is far from gone from the racing scene. A life-size bust of the legendary jockey is exhibited at Santa Anita Park, he was inducted into the National Museum Of Racing Hall Of Fame in 1975, and the Laffit Pincay Jr. Award is awarded annually on Hollywood Gold Cup Day to a member of the racing community who has displayed outstanding 'integrity, dedication, determination and distinction'.

[TJ]

Fred Hooper was not only a owner and breeder, but he was a great talent scout. He brought Laffit A. Pincay, Jr. to the U. S.

Born 29/12/1946
Career Wins 9, 530

Born in Panama City, Panama Laffit Pincay started his career as a horseman on the Panamanian circuit. Noticing the young riders promising talent, Jockey Club member and horse breeder Fred W. Hooper decided to bring twenty-year-old Pincay to the United States to ride as a sponsored jockey for his stable.

The young jockey took to this new and highly professional environment immediately, starting his almost 40 year career by winning eight of his first eleven races. During his career Pincay won almost every major race on the US calendar, including nine wins in the Hollywood Gold Cup, three consecutive wins in the Belmont Stakes and one precious win in the Kentucky Derby. Pincay retired from professional racing in 2003 but he is far from gone from the racing scene. A life-size bust of the legendary jockey is exhibited at Santa Anita Park, he was inducted into the National Museum Of Racing Hall Of Fame in 1975, and the Laffit Pincay Jr. Award is awarded annually on Hollywood Gold Cup Day to a member of the racing community who has displayed outstanding 'integrity, dedication, determination and distinction'.

Hi Shammy,
Mr. Hooper was a real horseman and a down to earth self made man who in his early days was a jack of all trades:>). He gave a lot of people a chance in this business. He bred and raised his own stock, but his favorite was Susan's Girl...she was an amazing race horse, the first filly to win a million dollars and later produced Copelan to the cover of Mr. Hooper's Tri Jet.
Aside from Laffit, Mr. Hooper also imported Braulio Baeza, and Jorge Velasquez from Panama. Not to mention, one of my first jobs walking hots for Chuck Parke' (Ivan's brother, who trained Hoop Jr. to win the KY. Derby) during the short time Chuck had them at Belmont Park:>) Susan's Girl was a 4YO at the time, she was a beautiful bay, with a neat white blaze and white socks. I got to walk her once....my favorite "hot" was a 2YO at that time named Special Team. The following year, Special Team went on to win the GR I Acorn, giving Mr. Hooper his 2nd Acorn win (at that time Special Team was with Jimmy Picou at Belmont Park).....Susans Girl was the first Acorn winner for Mr. Hooper. TJ

[oliverstoned]

Sounds kind of funny "Mr. Hooper also imported Braulio Baeza, and Jorge Velasquez from Panama". I assume the bill of lading said "Jockeys".

Mr. Hooper is a hero of mine, he made the good sires Tri Jet and Copelan. If I ever pick the right 6 numbers or have one of my crazy inventions take off I hope to emulate him someday.

[TJ]

Sounds kind of funny "Mr. Hooper also imported Braulio Baeza, and Jorge Velasquez from Panama". I assume the bill of lading said "Jockeys".

Mr. Hooper is a hero of mine, he made the good sires Tri Jet and Copelan. If I ever pick the right 6 numbers or have one of my crazy inventions take off I hope to emulate him someday.

Hi Oliver,
He would be a the perfect person to emulate. Don't forget Susan's Girl who produced Copelan along with Tri Jet's help:>) I think Precisionist ranked high up there as a race horse too....what a good horse he was.
In those days lots of talent came via Panama.....and nearby South America. Horses were also imported to America, bought very cheap and sold for a major profit. That no longer exist's as the additional tarrif to bring horses to America put the clamps on that business. TJ

[Sailor Kenshin]

Who were some of Pincay's mounts? I remember seeing something about that on Youtube. But my memory is shot.

[diomed]

Who were some of Pincay's mounts? I remember seeing something about that on Youtube. But my memory is shot.

Swale, Landaluce, Affirmed(after Cauthen) immediately come to mind.

[Bast]

While looking over the progeny of Olympia--and their progeny--I found this interesting pedigree:

http://www.pedigreequery.com/spirit+star

Does anyone know anything about this horse?

[Bast]

Here's a gelded 1956 son of Olympia with 213 starts:

http://www.pedigreequery.com/greek+circle