Gayman Productive At Pompano

Although he was out of harness racing for more than a decade making a new life for himself in Florida, Brian Gayman couldn't resist the lure of returning to work with the horses when the opportunity recently arose at Pompano Park

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"I'd been out of harness racing for fifteen years, and I had been about eighteen years between training wins before All American Damsel won last week here at Pompano," Gayman says. "That isn't to say I ever lost my love of the horses and the racing. That's why I'm back, because it gets in your blood and you can't shake the attraction of that fun and satisfaction of improving a horse and winning."

The opportunity to return to active duty was presented in April. Canadian Horse Racing Hall Of Fame inductee Doug Brown, Gayman's former employer from the 1980's, was just completing his first full season of duty at the South Florida venue and he decided to leave trotting mare Daria Hall and pacing mare All American Damsel in Gayman's care.

"Doug has been a great friend and mentor over the years," Gayman recalls. "We go back a long time together since before Doug sent me to The Meadowlands to run a satellite stable he was starting there in 1986. Fifteen years was a long time to be out of racing but I think the upside is you can come back with a fresh outlook and some new ideas. Doug and I have a mutual respect, trust, belief in each other and a great rapport. For all he's done driving horses, Doug really enjoys training too as evidenced by the way he developed Invitro, Dr No, Escapable Beaux and so many great horses. At the time I decided to leave racing it was only because I was tired of living in three different places including Florida, Ontario, and New Jersey.”

Gayman's first exposure to Florida was just over two decades ago. In addition to starting out in harness racing with Doug Brown, he also worked for Bill Robinson and Tom Artandi and remembers being hands on with the Florida winter training and development of some of the sport's stars of that era including Presidential Ball, Riyadh and Lotta Soul. He was able to develop his other careers when deciding to live in Florida full time.

Now 54, Gayman vividly recalls earning his first training and driving licenses alongside his lifelong friend Roger Mayotte. The two men speak on the phone almost every day and Gayman jokes that Mayotte is threatening to send him some horses to condition at Pompano if his rate of success keeps up. In his first seven starts, Gayman has a win and four runner-up finishes for a lofty UTR of .460. He'll harness up All American Damsel to race on the Tuesday evening, May 24 program in Florida.

"I'm a first mate engineer for Sun Dream Yacht Charters in Ft. Lauderdale and that satisfies my need to travel since I don't like to sit in one place for very long," Gayman offers.” All kinds of celebrities, actors, and singers such as Celine Dion have toured with us from Miami and up to places like New York, Maine, and Philadelphia. I also work in property management and maintenance at some millionaires' mansions along the intracoastal waterway. Combine all of that with this chance to return to working with the horses at Pompano and I have one awesome life here in Florida."

(Pompano Park)