Harness racing has always been a family affair for Vicki Gregg, a longtime trainer based at Hanover Raceway. The grand-daughter 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 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 of Vicki's parents instilled many early lessons regarding training horses. Training and racing horses presented a challenge that Gregg enjoyed, which she initially started by training a few of the family's horses and then later on having a stable of her own. After getting a regular 9-to-5 job at a hydro company, 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. Thibaudeau is also a familiar face at the barn 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 eight years ago. In May of 2012, Gregg was handed the training duties for filly Carsons Ladyluck by the filly's 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.

Her first foal, a Shadow Play colt named Carsons Shadow, 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."

After a brief rookie season which saw him register a second-place finish in an Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots while making just two starts, Carsons Shadow returned as a three-year-old, opening the season with an eye-catching 12-length victory at Flamboro Downs in 1:55.4.

After that performance, Gregg and Carsons Shadow headed to Woodbine Mohawk Park, where 'Shadow' looked razor sharp, reeling off wins in three of four races before capturing a Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots division last summer. The horse seems to prefer a target, often rallying from off the pace and closing like a freight train. Those tactics were 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 through a :26.1 final quarter.

Carsons Shadow then completed his three-year-old season by finishing second by a nose in the OSS Grassroots final, giving Shadow seven wins, five 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 with $141,064.

Gregg now has six 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."

The Gregg stable is looking to build off last season's success. Her stable favourite is a hard-hitting eight-year-old trotting gelding by the name of Twofourroadie, and with the imminent return of four-year-old Carsons Shadow, the barn has a lot of promise. With horses like these in Gregg's arsenal, the hard working horsewoman will no doubt be a staple and a force to be reckoned at Hanover Raceway this season.

(with files from Hanover)