While the eyes of the racing world were rightfully transfixed on Saratoga Race Course June 7 for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, Pete Mattson was having himself one fantastic night half the country away at Canterbury Park.
The nearly 80-year-old owner and breeder swept the pair of Minnesota-bred stakes races on the Shakopee, Minn., track's card with Thealligatorhunter winning the 10,000 Lakes Stakes for a second time in four years and Retired Kathy winning the Lady Slipper Stakes. For good measure, he added a stakes placing to his tally with Doctor Oscar finishing third in the 10,000 Lakes.
All three runners are the product of a love for racing that was born in the Minnesota-native about the same time as Canterbury Park was in 1985. A friend of Mattson's was applying to sell tip sheets at the new track and requested his help.
"I was in the printing business and he came to me and said, 'Can I print some samples for them?'" Mattson recalled. "I'd never been to the races before. My curiosity got into me and I started going to the racetrack a little bit. I found it to be very entertaining and I became somewhat of a gambling fanatic."
As he continued to learn more about the sport, his businesses grew in success and allowed him to turn his "wild dream" of owning a racehorse into reality. First, Mattson bought into a horse with two of his friends. A few years later, he bought two broodmares.
Today, Mattson's broodmare band consists of about 20 members, most of which were bred and raced by Mattson himself. Although his big runners from the weekend are Minnesota-breds, Mattson has recently began foaling his mares in Kentucky, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware to take advantage of their state-bred programs. The future of the Minnesota-bred program is up in the air as industry stakeholders continue to fight for outside gaming sources to aid purses at the track.
READ: Canterbury to Average $175K Purses; Supports MN Bill
Mattson's preference to breeding was not his original one. He had initially started off buying 2-year-olds at training sales in Ocala, Fla., but realized he was having more success breeding runners himself.
"I realized that the horses I was breeding were better horses than the ones I was buying," Mattson said. "I basically quit buying outside horses and kept breeding them."
That method has proven successful with the trio of runners from this weekend being among 10 stakes winners bred by Mattson. As an owner, Mattson has won more than 200 races for purse earnings in excess of $6 million.
The secret ingredient in his process is his relationship with bloodstock agent David Miller, a local to Canterbury he hired to plan the matings.
"He just has a real talent and a real process of picking the breedings," Mattson said. "I've been very, very successful with (the horses he planned). Some of them seem kind of out of the ordinary and strange. But then after the fact, most of them come out pretty well. He's pretty good at anticipating which sires are going to get better."
Operating on a modest budget, Mattson and Miller tend to target second or third-year sires who are of quality but may see a dip in their stud fees as breeders await to see how successful their first runners are.
"That's a good time to get value," Mattson said.
Firing Line was one of those stallions who offered value, standing for $5,000 at Crestwood Farm in Kentucky when they bred the unraced Medallist mare Shawl to him and received Retired Kathy as a result.
With a second stakes win under her belt, she is stirring much excitement in Mattson and trainer David VanWinkle. Her career got off to a slow start, literally, as she paused at the break of her debut. Mattson said it took her watching the other horses running away to realize she was supposed to run, too. She still managed to show a solid turn of foot that day to finish sixth.
"That's when I told the (VanWinkle) that I think we got something here. It was kind of disguised," Mattson said. "I really don't know how good she could be."
Since then, the filly has learned and performed, hitting the board in 13 of 17 starts since. A seven-time winner with two stakes triumphs under her belt, the 4-year-old filly has won on dirt and turf at distances around one and two turns. Having performed well against open allowance company in the past at Tampa Bay Downs, she will target the June 21 Lady Canterbury Stakes at her home track against open company for a real test.
"We're really excited about her ability going forward," Mattson said. "It's pretty fun to run into a good one every once in awhile."
A good one who has been around a while is Thealligatorhunter.
Mattson bought into the 7-year-old gelding's dam, the winning Stormy Atlantic mare Garden Gloves, while she was in foal to Overanalyze with Thealligatorhunter. Co-bred and co-owned by his trainer Tim Padilla, who trained the dam, the gelding has acquired 13 triumphs at Canterbury, including seven stakes wins, while earning more than half a million dollars in his career.
"He's going on his way to being in their Hall of Fame," Mattson said.
Of course being around a good horse is nothing new to Mattson, nor is winning a race on Belmont day.
One day, as the Kentucky Derby (G1) was approaching several years back, Mattson read an article about Jerry Crawford, the CEO of Donegal Racing. Crawford had announced he was donating a portion of his colt Paddy O'Prado's earnings to Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., Mattson's alma mater.
As it turned out, Mattson and Crawford had attended the college at the same time but never met. He reached out and the two became friends. A year later, he had an opportunity through Donegal Racing to buy a 1% share in Mo Donegal , winner of the 2022 Belmont Stakes (G1).
"One of the highest (moments for me in the sport) for sure," Mattson said of being part of a classic winner. "That was a good deal for me and a fun experience."
Mattson hopes that the fun experience continues as he currently has a yearling sired by the Belmont Stakes winner.
