Showered with honors during a love affair with the Turf and the Thoroughbred that spans six decades, Fred William Hooper, at age 102, says simply: "I still enjoy all of it-both racing and breeding."

Born in White County near Cleveland, Georgia, on October 6, 1897, Fred Hooper has two milestone accomplishments on his long journey within the sport. He won the 1945 Kentucky Derby with Hoop, Jr. who was purchased for $10,200 at the 1943 Keeneland yearling sale and named after his son, and he owned three-time champion Susan's Girl, the first female to exceed $1-million in career earnings. Inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1976, Susan's Girl (Quadrangle-Quaze, by *Quibu) is one of Hooper's three Kentucky Oaks (G1) winners and his most beloved horse.

Hooper has bred more than 100 stakes winners and accumulated earnings in excess of $50-million, and the briefest summary of his many highlights in racing would, of necessity, include Eclipse Awards as outstanding breeder in 1975 and 1982 plus the 1991 Eclipse Award of Merit. Susan's Girl won Eclipse Awards in 1972, 1973, and 1975, and his versatile champion Precisionist won the 1985 Eclipse Award as outstanding sprinter and earned $3,485,398.

Other notable horses who have campaigned in Hooper's red, white, and blue silks include Olympia, Crozier, Roman Envoy, My Portrait, Quaze Quilt, Tri Jet, Copelan, and two recent performers, Diplomatic Jet and Recommended List, both of whom are stallions at his Ocala farm. Overall in 1999, Hooper-bred runners won 82 races and amassed $1,030,215 in purses and breeder's awards while also adding three more stakes wins to his career total.

But what really energizes and animates Hooper is touring his farm. Going from one paddock to the next-inspecting his mares with foals at their sides as well as the yearlings and two-year-olds-he discusses his bustling operation and horses that are either racing now or due to be start in the near future.

On March 11, Hooper and his wife, Wanda, were present at Gulfstream Park to witness the exciting victory by Hal's Hope in the $750,000 Florida Derby (G1) for 88-year-old owner-breeder-trainer Harold Rose. The following Saturday, Hooper spent several hours discussing his love of racing and breeding and, after devouring a hearty lunch of ribs, french fries, iced tea, and vanilla ice cream, conducted a personal tour of his 912-acre Hooper Farms. He was interviewed by Reg Lansberry, an Atlanta-based contributing editor of Thoroughbred Times.

Thoroughbred Times: In the minds of racing fans, you will always be linked with Hoop, Jr. and the 1945 Kentucky Derby. What are your memories of winning that race?

Fred W. Hooper: "Well, my memory is that I got a great thrill out of it; to see the horse win. And I thought he could win. Beforehand, I eased up on him as a two-year-old so that he would be a good three-year-old. And he ran great; I thought he could beat anybody.

"I had a boy on him in a race in New York, and the jockey just threw the race away. Eddie Arcaro was riding in that race, and he won it, and he told a groom, I think it was, 'If you see Mr. Hooper around, tell him I'd like to talk to him a little bit.'

"So I saw Eddie and he said, 'I'd like to ride that horse in the stakes race coming up here in a couple of days.' (The race was the Wood Memorial Stakes, which was run in divisions in 1945.) And I said, 'Well, I think my trainer (Ivan Parke) already has a jockey for us, but if we can work it out, why, well all right.' I said we'd have to meet with the other jockey's agent first before Eddie could ride the horse.

"But Eddie wanted to ride him (Hoop, Jr.) so bad that Ivan and I told him that, if he could get hold of the jockey's agent and arrange to switch riders, it would be fine. And Eddie rode Hoop, Jr. in that race and won the race easy. He led all the way, I think."

TT: It was quite muddy on Derby day, wasn't it?

Hooper: "Yes, it was. It had really rained early that morning (Saturday), and I called my trainer up and I said, 'Ivan, I'm going to take Hoop, Jr. out on the track this morning and see how he likes that mud and water.' And Ivan said, 'Oh no, no, don't do that.' And I said, 'Well, I'm going to take him out.' 'All right,' Ivan said, 'if you're going to take him out I'll be out there.' So Hoop, Jr. came out with an exercise boy on him and went around the racetrack in that slop and came back, and the boy said, 'This horse just loves that mud and that slop.' So that was the first time in my life that I ever took a horse to the track to run over it on the day he's going to run. He galloped around there good, too.

"So then when Hoop, Jr. ran in the Derby-the horse had an outside post position (12th)-I said to Arcaro before the race, 'He's got speed so you've got to get yourself in shape (to the rail) by the time you get to the first turn.' And that's what Eddie did. He just got him over there to the first turn, galloped him around there slow and easy to get him ready to run. Then he turned him loose a little bit, and he won by ten lengths or something. (The official margin was six lengths.) Eddie said that he could have won by a lot more if he'd let him run. He really just ran off by himself. And if you look at the pictures in the winner's circle, Hoop, Jr. and Eddie are clean. There's no mud on them."

TT: You had named him after your son, of course. Was Hoop, Jr. literally one of the first three or four horses that you ever owned?

Hooper: "Well, I think he was one of the best horses I ever owned. É I bought him at Keeneland in 1943. I went up there to bid on horses. I didn't know a man in Kentucky, and nobody knew me. I went up there to buy *Sir Gallahad III fillies. There were four fillies in the sale, and I wanted to get into racing and I wanted to raise my own children. I wanted to get into the breeding side of it. There were four fillies, and I went there to buy all four; not particularly anything else. One of 'em I didn't like at all, it was all spindly legs and I didn't really care for her. But I bought the others, and raced them a little bit and turned them into broodmares.

"I saw this *Sir Gallahad III colt (out of One Hour, by *Snob II) in another barn by another owner, and they wanted me to look at him. And I just fell in love with him to start with. I watched him walk that day, and came back the next day to do the same thing, and the third day and the fourth day. He just impressed me more all the time."

TT: Was there anything in particular about Hoop, Jr. that you liked? Did he look like an athlete?

Hooper: "He was just a good-looking colt and, I don't know, I just fell in love with him right away, and I was going to buy him regardless of price. I wasn't worried about the money side of it; most horses didn't bring anything in those days, you know.

"So he came into the ring and the man asked for a bid. And I said, 'Five thousand dollars,' and you heard this big groan come up all the way around. 'My God, biddin' this horse off at $5,000 to start with ... ' Anyway, there was this man sitting behind me representing this cosmetics woman (Elizabeth Arden), and she was sitting right in back of me, too, and she raised me a little bit-$50 or something or other. The bid kept going up little by little, maybe up to $8,500, and the man was still trying to get bids. So I said, '$10,200.' And there was a scream! And somebody said, 'What's the matter with this fella; a crazy fella.' They couldn't get any more bids so I bought Hoop, Jr. at that price-$10,200."

TT: What kind of racehorse was he?

Hooper: "He was a kind horse, he had speed, and he could go any distance you wanted him to go. And Eddie (Arcaro) was tied up with a Greentree Stables horse, I think, on Preakness day and couldn't ride Hoop, Jr. in the Preakness Stakes. And I said to him, 'Well, who do you su