He stood a towering 18.1 hands high, ten inches taller than the average thoroughbred.
His weight was estimated (he was too big to get on the scales!) at up to 800kg, 300kg more than a ‘normal’ racehorse.
His colossal head alone was thought to weigh 50kg, eclipsing the total body-weight of some of his jockeys.
His hooves required custom-made size-eight plates (standard issue is a size-five).
And best of all? He was not only huge; he was a winner, crossing the line first in 12 of 25 race starts.
This is the story of Holy Roller, surely one of the most gigantic thoroughbreds to have ever graced the turf.
Despite being gelded very early in the piece, Holy Roller simply refused to stop growing, returning to John Hawkes' stables a bigger horse than he left after virtually every spell of his racing career. By the time injury put paid to his efforts on the racetrack in 1999, he stood a staggering 18.1 hands high.
To put that into perspective, the average racehorse generally measures up at 15.3 hands high (measured from the ground to the top of their withers). Even the mighty Phar Lap, who was himself a very imposing individual at 17.1 hands, would have been dwarfed when matched against Holy Roller. Modern champion Frankel is smaller again at 16.1, whilst tiny 1930’s American superstar Seabiscuit would have looked little more than a stable pony beside the Aussie giant.
Indeed, very few racehorses on record in Australia - or even the world - could lay claim to being the physical equal of Holy Roller. Add in Holy Roller's distinguished record on the track, and this freakish blend of size and speed surely stands head and shoulders above the rest as horse racing history's heavyweight champ.
Thoroughbreds are meant to be refined, delicate creatures; the ultimate horse breed carefully cultivated for generations to optimise an innate ability to run.
But when Holy Roller arrived into the world at Woodlands Stud in the dark early hours of 18 November 1992, both he and the process proved anything but refined.
His mother Secret Blessing was induced, but it still took over an hour for her to give birth. When her foal did finally appear, it became clear why the exhausted mare had been struggling so much. “Huge”, his foaling sheet simply read (fittingly, Holy Roller’s half-sister born two years previously was herself officially named ‘Immense’).
Foals normally stand up after around 15 minutes, but worryingly this one could not muster the effort to drag his hulking frame upright for over an hour.
When Holy Roller did finally rise up, those present were simply stunned by how enormous he truly was: as tall as the chest of one of the six-foot men present!
And when it took him another anxious half an hour to take his mother’s milk, it quickly became apparent to all present that this struggling youngster would be hard-pressed surviving at all.
“He hasn’t got a hope,” one of the vets declared.
But against the odds, Holy Roller did eventually make it to pre-training at Woodlands, where he would be placed under the universally respected eye of Jack and Bob Ingham’s all-conquering head trainer John Hawkes.
“He would look good pulling a cart,” was the master horseman’s initial frank assessment.
Then-stable foreman Peter Snowden was similarly flummoxed.
“My God, what have we got here?” he uttered when first afforded a look at the impossibly big juvenile in 1993.
The commentary on his stud record wasn't the most complimentary appraisal you've ever read, either:
"Very big horse. Vacant look. Will not exert himself except under extreme pressure. Can only go as fast as a slow canter (being flogged). Gurgles. Not an athlete. Future is dismal."
Despite being presented with a horse so hopelessly large, the man tasked with breaking-in Holy Roller was not as dismissive of his potential as others in the Woodlands operation.
“This huge lump knows where he is putting his feet and has tremendous balance,” the breaker observed in writing.
As he grew older (and ever bigger!), others began to notice too that though altogether a brute phsyically, Holy Roller wasn’t merely tall, but also in proportion and sound.
This impossibly large beast was going to make it to the track, after all.
RACING CAREER
It was not the most auspicious of racetrack beginnings for the big fellow, who debuted in a 1200m maiden at Canterbury the day after Anzac Day, 1995.
The bookies opened him at 33-1, but it only took a couple of circumnavigations of the mounting yard before he had blown right out to a despised 100-1. Bookies and punters, it seemed, agreed: this colossus of a gelding was no early-running two-year-old, and tight-turning Canterbury sure as hell wasn’t his track. The big son of Sanction proved the doubters thoroughly correct, beaten 8.8L into second-last.
But - for a horse who had no idea what the racing caper was all about initially - Holy Roller came on unexpectedly quickly. He first served notice of his true ability at his fourth start at Kembla Grange, when he broke his maiden status in convincing fashion over a mile.
Sent for a spell to further mature, the Roller returned a promising racing prospect indeed, putting together four straight wins before flopping for last of 15 at Warwick Farm. Dr Rod Hoare – who was so enamoured with the Holy Roller story that he wrote to the Inghams to offer the big horse a home on his farm once he had retired from racing – later related that such flops were not altogether unusual for the horse he affectionately called ‘Roley’.
“Despite his size, Roley was not very brave – in fact he was a bit of a sook. If you read his veterinary history and relate that to his racing record you will see that when he was fit, he won. If his vet record said ‘slight swelling in fetlock’, next race he would finish dead last.”
“If he got a sore foot he would stand in the paddock with his foot off the ground and put his nose on the bit that hurt, as if showing you. If he got a loose shoe, he would not walk on it. I have never seen another horse like that!”
Free of any restrictive niggles when returning to campaign as a four-year-old, Holy Roller proceeded to win five out of his next eight starts, among them a dominant first-up victory at Rosehill and Saturday successes at Rosehill and Randwick.
It didn’t take long for the horse known to some as 'the Camel' to engender a real cult following, with crowds flocking to his stall on race-day in order to get a close-up look at this most unique of thoroughbreds. His racing plates became particularly sought-after souvenirs.
Holy Roller’s size six-and-a-half racing plate (his huge hoof had to be severely trimmed in order to get it to fit) is compared against a 'larger-than-average' plate
Once retired, Holy Roller’s feet were allowed to grow out to their natural size, which saw him shod with even bigger size-eights (hand-made from steel bars!).
They weren’t the only custom-fitted plates required to get Holy Roller around the track. At Rosehill for instance, a special plate was used on the back of the barrier stalls to ensure the gates could accommodate his huge hindquarter.
As Holy Roller’s career progressed, it became altogether apparent that those who wrote him off early had got it very wrong. For when this freight train built up a big head of steam, there were few horses capable of matching it with him!
This was never better demonstrated than in the 1997 Bill Ritchie Handicap at Randwick, when the now matured five-year-old used his huge bulk to barge through a fleeting gap at the 80m and monster his way to a narrow victory for Larry Cassidy. The acceleration shown by the big horse that day lives long in the memory of those lucky enough to witness it.
Holy Roller’s defining moment on the track, however, came in the Group Two Waterford Crystal Mile at Moonee Valley in 1997, an event in which he returned to the mile for the first time since his 4L eleventh in the Group One Epsom Handicap at Randwick.
Sydney scribe Max Presnell considered Holy Roller more "rampaging elephant" than horse that day; the giant circling the field with huge strides after settling a conspicuous last in the early running.
Though the picture quality is a relic of yesteryear, the below video provides a compelling snapshot of Holy Roller’s impossibly-large loping bounds, as well as the degree of damage the big horse could do once he really found his galloping rhythm.
That gurgling, glassy-eyed youngster with no athleticism and a 'dismal future' was now a Group 2 winner!
Holy Roller returned a fortnight later to tackle the Group One Chrysler (now Emirates) Stakes at Flemington and acquitted himself well for sixth, in another highly-competitive effort that suggested Group One glory was well within his scope.
But just when it seemed as if Holy Roller was set to hit his peak as a racehorse, a slight suspensory tear detected after resuming in the Group Three Clissold Stakes at Rosehill in February of 1998 proved the beginning of the end.
Having been given a year off to recuperate, the now monolithic galloper (remember he was still growing all the time!) returned in early 1999 and won a barrier trial, defeating Group One winners Tie The Knot, Dodge and Arena.
An ultrasound scan taken in the aftermath of his trial win, however, showed a recurrence of the injury, and Holy Roller was duly retired to Dr Hoare’s property after Woodlands accepted the respected equine veterinarian’s offer of a good home.
POST RACNG CAREER
Dr Hoare took on Holy Roller with the intention of trying him as a dressage and eventing horse. And the big fellow immediately settled in to his laid-back country surroundings, jumping logs and taking to his new vocation in typically good-natured fashion.
But this gentle giant swiftly proved himself useful in other areas too, particularly as a role model to the younger horses on the property in Picton, New South Wales.
“We used him as an ‘uncle’ to the foals and weanlings. He taught them manners without biting or kicking any other horse. Roley never intimidated anyone when he was with us."
Dr Hoare also relates a story when he took Holy Roller to a dressage day, and had to report to the judge. “She asked my name and the name of the horse. Holy Roller? Named after the racehorse?”
“’No, this is the racehorse,’ I responded. She didn’t believe me until she saw his brands!”
Holy Roller lived out a happy retirement at Dr Hoare’s property, where he was much appreciated and admired for his impressive stature and kindly nature. Sadly, Holy Roller was humanely put down several years ago after serious teeth problems meant he was unable to eat enough to maintain his condition.
Dr Hoare fondly remembers his special horse, who used to attract enthusiastic visitors from across the country.
“While Roley was renowned for his size, that is not the enduring memory that we have of him. It was his personality and nature that made him stand out. He was always happy to receive groups of visitors in his retirement and came up to them in the paddock, always hoping for some titbit or a pat. He would walk straight up to you and put his head at your knee level and want you to pat him on the neck. “
“He would move in this way from person to person around the group much like a Labrador dog seeks attention. His size was intimidating but he was all gentleman. Those that know horses realise that a horse dropping his head like that is a sign of submission and trust, and such bonding is unusual and much valued. Roley was such a great horse, and he will never be forgotten."
This story was originally published by Punters.com.au
