Brian Gray is one of the new faces at Cal-Expo, and the 51-year-old native of Canada is enjoying his first sojourn to California.
“I brought down four horses from Alberta, and it was 32 degrees below with the wind chill when I left,” Gray related. “As far as how long we’ll be here, I’m just playing it by ear.”
While Gray had an uncle that was a standardbred trainer and an uncle that conditioned thoroughbreds, he didn’t make the move to racing until he was in his late 20s.
“I did the nine-to-five thing for several years, and then I decided I would rather do something I would enjoy. I worked with both thoroughbreds and the harness for a period, then went with the trotters and pacers because you can do so much more with them.”
Gray got the chance to work with some very nice horses when he was with John Kopas, Jr. in Ontario, then had a big horse of his own when he campaigned Justin Private in New York.
“That was 1989, and he won some big stakes races all over the state.”
While Gray is keeping a close watch on the four performers he has on the grounds, he’s also eagerly awaiting a new arrival from a mare named Outlaw Watch Me, who is less than a month away from dropping her first foal.
“She was like having a credit card when she was racing for us, and I decided to give her a real chance when she retired and bred her to Mister Big. I’ve broken quite a few babies in my time, but this will be the first one that I’ve bred myself, so I’m pretty excited about it.”
Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Thursday, February 17 and will continue through Saturday, February 19. First-race post time on Thursday is 5:30 p.m. (PST). First-race post time on Friday, February 18 and Saturday is at 6:00 p.m.
On Saturdays, Cal-Expo offers a reduced 15 per cent takeout rate on both the Early and Late Pick-4 wagers, with both Pick-4s having a $10,000 gross-guaranteed pool.
(Cal-Expo)