Career
Born in Cleveland, Georgia, Hooper quit school in the eighth grade and worked as a schoolteacher, a carpenter, a riveter, a prizefighter and a potato farmer. He would make his fortune in the heavy construction business. He later built the Circle H Farm, an 1,100-acre (45 km2) horse breeding operation in Ocala, Florida.
Among his other notable horse were United States. Racing Hall of Fame inductees Precisionist and Susan"s Girl.
In 1975 and again in 1982, Fred Hooper was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder. In 1995 he was inducted in the Calder Race Course Hall of Fame.
Fred Hooper was responsible for bringing top Latin American riders to the United States. Hall of Fame jockeys Laffit Pincay, Junior., Braulio Baeza, and Jorge Velasquez all got their start with him.
Hooper died at the age of 102 in Ocala, Florida.
The Fred West. Hooper Handicap at Calder Race Course is named in his honor.
