Pick On was one of the biggest pacers of his era but raced in one of the smallest hopples. Here he is winning an Inter Dominion heat in 1952.
Stumbled upon this photo of a pacer called Pick On (Percy Hall) winning a qualifying heat of the 1952 Inter Dominion Championship at Harold Park. Note the “snug” hopple length on a horse who stood close to 17 hands.
In winning this heat over fifteen and a half furlongs (3118m), Pick On defeated Retinue - a horse well known to Hall. Just over two years earlier Percy had driven Retinue into second place in the first race run under lights at Harold Park. He later won several races on the horse for trainer Goran Kelly.
One of the trickiest jobs faced by harness horse trainers is to work out the exact hopple length required by each horse. One hole too long can cause a horse to pace roughly - one hole too short can slow them down and result in chafing.
Trainers sometimes experiment for long periods with troublesome horses - constantly tweaking the hopple length until satisfied.
One thing we do know is that the size of the horse isn’t always a guide to the hopple length required. It gives the trainer a starting point, but in many cases the horse’s hopple length belies its size.
Pick On was one of 500 Harold Park winners trained by Percy Hall - a legend in the trotting sport from the late 1920’s until his death in 1981.
I enjoyed many conversations with the master horseman over the years and Pick On, the horse in the photo, was mentioned more than once. Perc said Pick On was a very big horse who always looked like he was “screaming” for a long hopple.
Hall experimented with the stallion’s hopple length several times. Whenever he tried to lengthen the hopples, the horse would lose confidence and pace roughly. “In the end I just forgot about the horse’s size and set the hopples where he felt his most comfortable, his most fluent and his fastest. When I finally measured them, I was shocked to find they were only 52 inches (132cm)”, said Percy.
Many other trainers at the time were intrigued by Pick On’s tiny hopple and many present day trainers will find it hard to believe. Despite his height, Pick On was short through the body and had a short, rapid fire action.
He may well hold the distinction of being the “shortest hopple” horse to ever contest an Inter Dom Series. He finished seventh in the Grand Final won by Avian Derby.
If Pick On wore the smallest hopple in an Inter Dominion series then Jofess must hold the record at the other end of the scale. The tough as teak gelding won the 2004 Grand Final at Gloucester Park in Perth by a slender margin from The Falcon Strike. Jofess was probably a slightly smaller horse than Pick On but raced in a massive 63 inch (160cm) hopple. Trainer driver Darren Hancock used hopple shorteners to give him some confidence out of the gate, but once balanced Jofess would revert to his maximum length.
Perhaps the horse to wear the longest hopple in the Inter Dominion was Jofess, winner of the 2004 grand final - courtesy Club Menangle.
Percy was forced to relinquish his race driving licence at age 65, but continued to train for several years from the Badgerys Creek property of his son in law Owen Glendenning. His achievements were many. Apart from his history making 500 wins at the iconic Harold Park circuit he won 5 drivers premiership and 4 trainers titles at the headquarters of NSW harness racing.
Many of his contemporaries believed he drove more top class horses than any other driver of his generation. Ribands, James Scott, Dixie Beau, Blazing Globe, Tarcoola Frost, Van Hall, First Test, Danny Hanover, Malyandry’s Pride, and Born To Trot were some of the best pacers he handled in races.
Late in 1981 Percy started to experience dizzy spells - a major shock for a man who’d enjoyed robust good health all of his life. He consulted a Doctor who simply told him to slow down a little. He followed instructions for a few weeks but was soon back to his busy routine. Just a week before Christmas of 1981 the great horseman collapsed and died as he was loading a yearling onto his float at an Agnes Banks spelling property. A huge congregation gathered for his Penrith funeral on Christmas Eve.
I can still see him sitting on a bale of lucerne hay in his Badgerys Creek stable block the day he told me the story of Pick On. It was almost thirty years since the horse had raced, but P.J. Hall was still shaking his head.