Jamie Gray is a pretty darned good songwriter and singer. But, foremost, he’s an outstanding horseman and individual.
Gray was named Alberta’s winner of the first annual Keith Clark Horsemanship Award at the recent Alberta Standardbred Horse Association Awards night.
“I was totally surprised,” said Gray.
“Pleasantly surprised,” he said of the award named after Clark, who died last December and was a true legend of harness racing with 6,620 driving wins, 4,302 training wins and was named Alberta’s Horseman of the Year 14 times.
Clark was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2009.
“To win an award named after Clark is very special. And to have so many of Clark’s family attend was wonderful,” said Gray. “There’s a lot of criteria that goes into this award.”
Is there ever.
Nancy Retzlaff, executive director of Alberta Standardbred Horse Association (ASHA), said ASHA members submitted nominees and the top three finalists were chosen by a panel.
“The horsemanship award is very much akin to the O’Brien Horsemanship Award and is focused on trainers and primarily their success with young horses,” said Retzlaff. “Integrity, honesty, work ethic, leadership and commitment to horse racing in Alberta are also considerations.”
Gray prevailed over two other well-deserving individuals: Rod Starkewski and Nathan Sobey.
“Described by his peers as a tireless, hands-on trainer, Jamie drives, trains, catch-drives, does his own shoeing and is intimately involved in the day-to-day operations of his stable,” said Jocelyn Giesbrecht, ASHA’s marketing and special events coordinator. “Jamie is known for his honesty, work ethic and unwavering commitment to the development of young racehorses. He has built a reputation for shaping future champions, none more impressive than the sensational two-year-old Custard Dolce, a two-time ASHA Award winner. The two-year-old filly had a flawless 2024 season with eight wins out of eight stakes race starts including a track record triumph.
“Jamie also guided YYC On The Horizon to a Super Final runner-up finish, securing a nomination for top three-year-old Alberta-sired colt.
“Jamie’s impact extends beyond his own stable to Alberta’s horse racing industry through countless hours spent volunteering his time and giving back to the sport and community.”
Of all the many horses Gray has driven and trained, he believes Custard Dolce is going to be the best even though, in 2018, he had Exit Smiling, who was named Alberta’s Champion Three-Year-Old Alberta-Sired Colt as well as the prestigious title of Horse of the Year.
Trained and driven as a two and three-year-old by Gray, who also won Trainer of the Year Under 200 starts and Horseperson of the Year in 2018, Exit Smiling has gone on to earn a total of 23 wins from 141 races for earnings of $237,867.
“Custard Dolce won eight in a row. All stakes,” said Gray, 63, who was born in Saskatchewan, just outside of Saskatoon where his dad, Allan, had a farm. “She won $140,000. She set a two-year-old track record [1:54 at Calgary’s Century Downs winning the $70,000 ASHA Filly Pace by seven lengths]. No two-year-old in Alberta has ever done that. Certainly not a filly.”
Gray picked out the daughter of Custard The Dragon out of Blue Star West, by champion As Promised, at the ASHA Yearling Sale when the hammer went down at $26,500. He then sold shares in her to Jackson Wittup, Max Gibb and Derek Wilson.
“She was the only yearling I bought at the sale,” said Gray, who was also the breeder. “I said, ‘Man, this is a good-looking filly. Nice and tall. Long legged. I liked her right away.”
Custard Dolce was fourth in her first start, coming home in :57.2. Then she went on a tear winning a division of the Emerald Filly Pace, a division of the Alberta Sires Stakes Starlet, an ASHA Filly Pace elimination and the final, another ABSS division at The Track On 2, divisions of the Brad Gunn Stakes and ABSS Stardust and then the $80,000 ABSS Super Final by 5-3/4 lengths to end last year’s schedule.
“All her races were really good but the track record was most impressive,” he said of the overpowering performance when she swooped to the lead in the backstretch and never looked back. “Each start is a little better, but the 1:54 mile was, of course, really special.”
Voted the Two-Year-Old Filly Champion in a landslide, Custard Dolce is back in training being readied for a stakes race in mid-May.
“That was the sixth time in the last seven years that I’ve had a champion in my barn. I’m pretty proud of that," said Gray. “I’ve been very lucky.”
Going young, Custard Dolce, now three, is Gray’s oldest horse in his eight-horse barn.
“I have two three-year-olds and six two-year-olds. That’s where the money is. Stakes money. That’s where the real money is.
“The older I got the more I’ve wanted to concentrate on the breeding part of the business -- having broodmares and selling their foals. If you happen to get a good one, that’s where you make the money.”
Gray’s songwriting is personal. Often using fellow horseman Joe Ratchford, who plays bass, one of the songs he wrote goes like this:
“Now I never tried to be something I’m not.
“And I’ve never tried to give more than I’ve got.
“But I did my best.
“Always will get me on through
“So that’s why I’m going to do what I’m gonna do.
“Now I’ve had fun.
“By the time I settled on down.
“Plant my feet firmly on the ground.
“Raised a family like I am supposed to do
“And throw away my book just for you.”
“I’m still writing some songs. But it takes a lot of time. Especially with all the babies I have,” said Gray.
Married to Shelley -- “she’s the backbone” -- for 35 years, Jamie met Shelley in Saskatoon where she was driving the starting gate. She still calls the charts for Standardbred racing, something she has done for about 20 years. They have two daughters, Riley and Brie.
“I started writing and singing songs to show my kids to never say never -- that you can accomplish anything if you set your mind to it. I wanted to show them that anything is possible,” said Gray. “It’s kind of like my motto in life: if someone else can do it, why can’t I?”
There was no doubt about what Gray was going to do with his life. His dad Allan, a pipefitter, trained Standardbreds as a hobby and Jamie has two uncles who were in horse racing.
“Both of my dad’s brothers trained racehorses. Uncle John raced Standardbreds and Uncle Sid trained Thoroughbreds. One year they both had two-year-old champions in Alberta. The odds on that are astronomical.
“I had my first horse when I was eight. During summer holidays, I worked with the likes of Keith Clark, Keith Linton and Joe Hudon,” he said of three of Western Canada’s best. “I did that full time when there was no school -- I didn’t like school -- from ages 12 to 16. Then I moved away from home and went to Ontario when I was 16. I had $80 in my pocket, jumped on a train and went east.”
Gray wrote letters to five of Canada’s top trainers asking if they needed help: Keith Waples, Billy Haughton, Joe O’Brien, Dr. John Hayes and Stanley Dancer. Four of the five wrote back and Gray chose Dr. Hayes where he spent three years.
After writing his trainer’s license, Gray decided to come back west and start a stable.
“It worked out good,” said Gray, who as a driver has won 2,802 races and purse earnings of $14,571,582. As a trainer, he has won 1,712 races and earnings of $10,559,128.
In 2018, Gray and Kelly Hoerdt represented Alberta in the National Driving Championship.
Three stakes winners -- Ringo Star, Blue Star Destiny and Im Warning U -- that Gray owned half of allowed Jamie and Shelley to buy a piece of land seven kilometres north of Villeneuve on Highway 44.
“We basically built it from scratch," he said. "There was a house but it wasn’t finished. We built that and then we built a barn, a garage and a half-mile track, which is where I do all my training.
“Ringo Star was the one who got us started. He made [nearly] $93,000 in [2000] -- he was [fourth] in the Nat Christie Memorial and won [an elimination] of the Western Canada Pacing Derby -- and we sold him for $80,000. Blue Star Destiny made $100,000 [for us] and we sold her for $65,000. Im Warning U made $95,000 [for us] and we sold her for $65,000.”
Another horse Gray campaigned, My Villas On Fire, set a two-year-old filly track record of 1:54 at Lacombe's Alberta Downs while Sotally Tober made more than $150,000 and was a finalist for Alberta’s Three-Year-Old Colt/Gelding of the Year in 2014. He also had Mothers Melody, who took a mark of 1:54.3 and was race timed in 1:53.4 as a three-year-old.
With harness racing set to begin again in Calgary at Century Downs on Saturday, Gray said he believes the future is positive.
“It looks good. We’re on the upswing. The handle is improving. The races per day are up and we’ve got lots of horses.”
Harness racing at Century Downs will be contested on Saturdays with post time at 12:45 p.m. and Wednesdays with post time at 6:15 p.m.
Next Wednesday marks the 10-year anniversary of Century Downs with racing under the new lights. A gala will be held.
The stakes schedule starts in May. The big day is Aug. 2 when both the Ralph Klein and Gord & Illa Rumpel memorial races will be held.
Thoroughbred racing begins on May 2 at Century Mile in Nisku.
(With files from Curtis Stock / thehorses.com)