By Matt Markham
There’s offers flying in from all corners, but for now Greg and Nina Hope are staying staunch with their star trotter Monbet.
Initially interest was high from at least three different parties in purchasing the star four-year-old. It is now believed that at least one of those three, potentially even two, have fallen to the wayside and one serious player remains in the hunt to get his hands on the horse.
That’s meant the pressure is being heaped on the Hopes and their co-owner Morrie Molloy to make a decision on whether or not the For Sale sign is on the barn door or not.
At this stage the sign is on the door, but there’s a dress rug covering it up until the Hopes can get a little more certainty about the seriousness of the offers being made.
“There have been some expressions of interest,” Greg Hope said on Friday night at Addington.
“But at this stage we aren’t really sure whether they are complete offers, or just people enquiring.”
The money being offered for the Group One winning son of Love You is said to be in excess of $500,000 and Hope said it put he and Nina in a tricky situation, albeit a good situation too.
“He (Monbet) is the reason any trainer gets into the sport really, you do all those hours and put all that work into horses for the hope of finding that one good one who could take you anywhere.
“We’ve been lucky to get that horse and then to go and sell him right when the fun is about to begin is a pretty tough call to make.
“But on the other side of the coin, the money being offered is pretty serious money.
“Its life changing stuff really and for the direction that Nina and I want to head it would be a massive help.”
The Hopes plan is to gradually decrease the number of horses they have in work as they continue to set up the stable for their son Ben to take over at some point in the future.
With some handy broodmares on hand including the likes of Monbet’s dam, Diedre Darling as well as the likes of The Earth Moved and Unyeilding Spirit to join that matron’s paddock there is potential for some serious earning to made there too.
Should the Hopes decide to sell the good news is that it is almost a certainty that Monbet will stay in New Zealand.
But just where, still remains to be seen.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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