by Tony Elliott
Harness Racing has always been a family affair for Vicki Gregg, a long-time trainer based at Hanover Raceway. The granddaughter of Hall of Famer Allan Walker on her mother's side, she comes by being involved in the business quite honestly.
Growing up in a racing family, she has developed a love for the sport that continues to this day. Her mother Jean, was a Driver and Trainer before having a family, while her father Peter Thibaudeau, was also a long-time Trainer, who later got involved on the administrative side of the business, as the former Race Secretary of both Hanover Raceway and the former Owen Sound Race Track.
Both Mom and Dad instilled many early lessons to their daughter about training horses. Training and racing horses presented a challenge that Gregg enjoyed, which she initially started by training a few of the families horses and then later on having a stable of her own. After getting a regular 9 to 5 job at a Hydro company for a while, she once again found herself feeling the pull back into the business as a career.
The fact that her stable is very much a family affair is evident in Gregg’s current operation, with her son Louie co-owning many of her trainees, as well as dad still being a familiar face at the barn and who helps feed the horses in the afternoon. Louie, who is a Licensed Carpenter, spends as many hours as he can at the barn training and jogging horses alongside his mom.
The groundwork for her latest success story started some 8 years ago. In May 2012, Gregg was handed the training duties for filly Carsons LadyLuck by her owner David Carson. The hard-knocking, honest pacing mare spent the majority of her career at Hanover Raceway, earning just over $55,000 for her connections. That said, her greatest production wasn’t on the racetrack, but has turned out to be in the breeding shed with her offspring.
Carsons Shadow, her first foal, a Shadow Play colt, was trained down under Gregg's watchful eye. From the beginning he looked the part of a race horse, according to Gregg, "he showed talent from the start and he was always pretty fast and he always did it very easy training down, but you never know how that translates for sure until racing them." said Gregg.
After a brief 2-year-old season, which saw him register a second place finish in a Grass Roots event in just two starts, Shadow returned as a 3-year-old, opening the season with an eye-catching 12 length victory at Flamboro Downs in 1:55.4.
After that performance, Gregg and Shadow headed to Woodbine Mohawk Park, where Shadow looked razor sharp, reeling off wins in 3 of 4 races before capturing a Ontario Sires Stakes Grass Roots division later on last summer. The horse's tactics are typically not being near the front and rallying from off the pace in the stretch, closing like a freight train.
That was never more evident than the race he set a new lifetime mark of 1:50.1, with driver Jody Jamieson tipping Carsons Shadow off cover and accelerating in a blink of an eye. (Race replay found below)
Shadow closed with a last quarter in 26.1. He then completed his three-year-old season by finishing second by a nose in the OSS Grassroots final, giving Shadow 7 wins, 5 seconds and a third in 19 starts and $85,496 stashed away in seasonal earnings.
The excitement of racing a top level horse is something Gregg will never forget. “I got very excited, probably too excited when Shadow was racing.” she said. With the help of Carsons Shadow, her small stable achieved a career best season for earnings of $141,064.
Gregg now has 6 horses in training for the upcoming season, including two siblings of Carsons Shadow, a two-year-old named Carsons Gouda and a three-year-old named Carsons Kennedy, both of whom Gregg likes. " All three siblings are different, but I do like both of the younger ones and they're doing their work fine. Kennedy was ready to qualify and Gouda has been in 2:27 and doing it well so far. They are both looking good." said Gregg.
The Gregg stable is looking to build off last season's success. In her barn is also her favourite horse, Twofourroadie, an 8 year old hard-hitting gelding trotter and with the imminent return of Carsons Shadow for his 4-year-old season in her arsenal, the barn has a lot of promise. Gregg, a hardworking horse-woman will no doubt be a staple at her favourite track, Hanover Raceway this upcoming season.
Hanover Raceway’s season starts Saturday, June 6th with a new 2:00 PM post time.
Tony Elliott is the Assistant to The General Manager of Hanover Raceway.
Follow him on Twitter @elliottracing99
