Life is a puzzle. But Rebecca Kanak has figured it out. Quickly.

The 27-year-old Standardbred trainer -- in just her fourth year of training -- led all conditioners at Calgary's Century Downs and Track On 2 just outside of Lacombe.

Kanak is the leading trainer in Alberta this year with 84 wins from 357 starts. Kanak has won seven races to date at Century Mile in Edmonton, 24 at Track On 2 (11 more than runner-up Matthew Howlett) and 53 at Century Downs (eight more than multiple leading trainer Brandon Campbell).

And yet, she is taking her meteoric rise almost matter-of-factly.

“Everything is a puzzle,” said the Saskatoon, Sask. native, who now calls home wherever her horses are whether that’s living in a trailer in Edmonton, Calgary, Lacombe or Osoyoos, B.C., where she has a stable of eight horses.

Flying back and forth from B.C. to Alberta, in Edmonton she has 14 horses with more coming in over the next few days.

“I live wherever there is racing; I go where the horses go,” said Kanak, who recently went over the $1 million mark in career earnings with Avas Angel Baby, who recently won five races in a row.

“If you have patience. If you have an eye for it, understanding, the proper diet and the right equipment then you figure out the puzzle and you’ve got good racehorses. A lot of it just makes common sense.

“Some people are not happy to see a newcomer do well. But the industry needs new people. I’m not new to horses; I’m new to harness racing.”

Just four years ago, Kanak started as an owner of three horses -- her first win was with Sparkthedragon in 2022.

As her horses performed well, more horses kept arriving. Her barn now totals 25 horses.

Kanak’s first foray into horse racing -- seven years ago -- was with Thoroughbreds in Saskatoon. But when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the Thoroughbred meet ended and a 10-day harness meet in 2021 started. It immediately changed her life.

“I fell in love with the sport,” she said.

Originally planning on being a veterinarian, she obtained her Bachelor of Science classes at the University of Saskatchewan with a major in Animal Science. In January of 2022 -- while going to university -- she took out her groom’s license so she could help on the occasional race day. Remarkably, she was also working full time in a small animal clinic -- equine specific -- in Saskatoon. If that wasn’t enough, she also taught quilting classes and worked retail in a quilt shop.

“I like being hands on so I went to the track and took out my groom and owner’s license.

“No one in my family was really into horse racing but my dad raced chuckwagon ponies as a hobby. And I rode horses all the time -- since I was 12 in Saskatoon at a lessons boarding school.

“Whatever I was going to do with my life was going to be horse based. I love them.

“Now, my goal is simple: to win as many races as I can.”

In September of 2023, Kanak got her trainer’s license. She had just three horses, winning with one of her 12 starts while finishing second three times and third twice.

The win came with Run And Buck on Nov. 10, 2023 at Century Mile. Driver Mike Hennessy got a two-hole trip, tipped out and won by two lengths over the odds-on favourite, Y V Larceny, in 1:57.4.

“Rebecca sends the horses ready to race,” said Hennessy. “She obviously knows what she is doing.”

“I was busy," said Kanak. "It was pretty crazy.”

But not too busy to learn and figure out the puzzle.

“I asked questions all the time.”

Two instrumental people Kanak went to for advice were Trevor Williams and Travis Ellis.

Williams, a Standardbred trainer and former bank manager, reached great success in both Alberta and Manitoba. At the 2024 Manitoba Harness Racing Awards Banquet, he was named the Ron Waples Award recipient for dedication to the industry.

Ellis took home top Trainer and Horseperson of the Year in his first year racing in Manitoba in 2022 and was named Trainer of the Year in 2024 at the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association Awards. He started racing 17 years ago in Nova Scotia but ended up working for Williams in Manitoba. Ellis once won five races on an 11-race card at Miami Fair before moving to Alberta.

Kanak worked for Ellis as a groom and Williams trained the horses before she got into the industry.

Kanak has had several very nice horses. But one of her favourites was West Coast Beach.

“I was warming him up and he wasn’t sound,” she recalled of a day in August 2023. “I rehabbed him for seven months and a full year after the injury he came back to win the Open several times at B.C.’s Fraser Downs. It was very pleasing and remarkable.”

Meant to be a good horse, West Coast Beach won an elimination of the Western Canada Pacing Derby at Century Mile in 2020 for trainer/driver Kelly Hoerdt.

West Coast Beach retired last year with 35 wins and $242,314 in career earnings.

“I still have him. We went riding in the mountains this year.”

Another steady hitter, Tahuya Velocious, has won 12 of 29 races. At one point, the four-year-old mare won nine times over a span of 12 races. She is entered Wednesday at Century Mile, where racing returned this past weekend.

Another top performer for Kanak is four-year-old gelding Outlaw Playmymovie, who won five in a row this past spring.

Then there is nine-year-old gelding Blue Powder, who earned nine of his 20 career wins in Kanak's care this past year.

All of them are different.

“Like I said: horse racing is a puzzle,” said Kanak. “Every day is a different piece of it.”

(With files from Curtis Stock / thehorses.com; photo of Rebecca Kanak [seventh from right] being honoured as Track On 2's leading trainer on Sept. 16)