Young Guns With Tom Hobbs

[Wandering Eyes]

After its popularity last year, Young Guns returns with all new questions and young professionals. Today we speak with Tom Hobbs, stud manager at Pattles Grove Stud

TDN: Tell us about your career to date?

TH: I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to work and learn at some top farms including Juddmonte, Newsells Park Stud and the National Stud. A personal highlight was working for Sir Patrick Hogan at Cambridge Stud in New Zealand, and I jumped at the opportunity to develop Pattles Grove in January 2016.

TDN: If you could be one person in the industry for a day, who would it be and why?

TH: I think I’d have to experience the thrill of being a top-level jockey. I’d probably want to be Oisin Murphy, perhaps on one of his Roaring Lion wins. I think he’s a superb rider, he’s had a fantastic year after putting in a lot of hard work and it would be a great experience to be in his shoes for a day.

TDN: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

TH: ‘Be a sponge.’ Take every opportunity to learn new things, and different methods from everyone you work with and deal with in the horse industry. It’s a fantastic industry where you never stop learning from vets, to farriers, to agents and trainers.

TDN: What is the best aspect of your current job?

TH: The best aspect of my job is simply dealing with the horses on a daily basis. I’m lucky enough to work with some wonderful equine athletes and it’s really rewarding seeing particular horses do well for their break, or to come back from an injury or illness. You can’t really beat foaling either, it never gets old delivering the newborns.

TDN: If you weren’t working in the horse racing industry, what would you be doing?

TH: I was very interested in property and property development straight out of school and set away working in the family property business. I would like to think I would have followed in my father’s footsteps into the family business and property development.

TDN: If you had 24 hours to get someone interested in the horse racing industry, how would you do it?

TH: It would be a long day but I don’t think you could start without a morning on the gallops at Newmarket coupled with several tours of trainer’s yards, meeting their superstars. Next would be a trip to Tattersalls to see the buzz and excitement of the sales. For me, nothing beats the buzz of being at the sales. I think it would be such a great experience trying to get someone interested in the horse racing industry by allowing them to see first hand such a big part of our industry and the care and attention given to the horses by all the staff. Finally, I would finish the day with some quality evening racing and give them the thrill of being an owner and seeing their horse run, and hopefully winning. Meeting the trainer and the jockey would top off the day.

TDN: What was your biggest achievement in 2018?

TH: We were delighted to offer the first Pattles Grove sales consignment at Tattersalls this year. It was a goal I had very much been working towards and I hope the first of many. Another highlight was completing the infrastructure at Pattles Grove; a lot of hard work and time has gone into building the farm, its facilities and thereafter its upkeep. We’re very lucky to have such a hard-working team.

TDN: Who was your horse of 2018 and why?

TH: I became quite fond of most horses I got to look after, but a horse of 2018 would be James Street (Ire), a Gale Force Ten (GB) colt owned by M M Stables and in training with Hugo Palmer. He was a stunning yearling, bought by Armando Duarte, and it was fantastic to see him win so well recently with a double penalty. For the bigger picture, Enable (GB) has got to be up there. It was a superb training performance to complete what she’s done and it’s great to hear that she’s remaining in training for 2019.

TDN: What is your New Year’s Resolution?

TH: To continue to work with our quality horses and clients and keep pushing Pattles Grove to offer the best services we are able to.

View the full article