Mongeon Grateful to Saddle Hobbs
Claimed for $50,000 at the tail end of the 2012 Saratoga meeting, Hobbs has turned out to be a multiple-stakes winner, as well as quite a bargain.
Had previous owner Mike Repole not been seeking to become the leading owner of the Saratoga meeting for the second straight year, trainer Kathy Mongeon likely wouldn’t be saddling the 5-year-old gelding for Saturday’s $150,000 Sunshine Millions Turf at Gulfstream.
“We loved the horse. We knew that Repole was trying to be leading owner. That’s why they ran him for the fifty,” said Mongeon, whose claim finished second that day but Repole did go on to be leading owner at the meeting. “I saw Todd Pletcher this summer, and he told me, ‘You never would have gotten the horse’ I said, ‘I know, I know, Repole was trying to be leading owner.’”
Claimed by Repole for $65,000 at Belmont out of a winning maiden-breaking race, Hobbs won an starter optional claiming race at Saratoga before being entered for $50,000 in another optional claiming allowance.
Two starts later, Mongeon saddled Hobbs for a victory in the overnight Montserrat Stakes at Aqueduct. Owned by Peter Kelly, Mongeon’s longtime client, Hobbs won an allowance at Gulfstream last winter before capturing the Besilu Stakes Turf Classic at Tampa Bay Downs last April.
“He’s won at six racetracks. He’s won at Saratoga, Aqueduct, Belmont, Tampa, Gulfstream and Monmouth,” Mongeon said. “There’s not many horses that will win at six different tracks.”
His most recent victory came in a Monmouth Park allowance that was followed by a few unsuccessful stakes tries.
“This summer, every time I put him in a graded race, it looked like he couldn’t step up to the plate. But we had a lot of foot issues with him. I had four glue-ons on him, and two of them fell off behind in a Grade 2,” Mongeon said. “Hopefully, that’s in the past. His feet have been really good, knock on wood.”
Hobbs most recently finished a troubled seventh at Gulfstream in the El Prado Stakes, in which he lacked room and was bumped.