lin eage owner, that winter holds a high place as one of our best years of training horses. Like most businesses, there are always high and low points and that year was the last good one we’d see for a while. Some people may not understand how we wake at four or five in the morning to clean and care for animals that give no guarantee of earnings or success. Most people look at horse racing as an outdated sport they watch once or twice a year when it shows up on a major network. Those people will never know how it feels to work with that animal, gain companionship with that animal and see the trust he grants you and the way his attitude changes when that trust is instilled. They never know
Photo: courtesy lacey gaudet
“real job”. Life on the racetrack is far from a “real job” to many people. However, from the time I watched my father clocking horses at the racetrack or my mother keeping order in our shedrow in the early mornings, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. When I was a little girl, waking up early to jump in the truck and head to the track with my dad felt like Christmas morning. As I grew older this became a daily routine. Even in the dead of winter when the sun never seems to shine, with winds whipping and temperatures in the teens, I just bundle up, head to the barn and work. Growing up, my parents always provided a pony with riding lessons and new show clothes and encouraged me to become interested in show jumping or dressage. After some time, the instructors got upset I wasn’t learning how to keep my toes in or master my diagonals and my ponies never seemed to behave like the other girls’. Soon, I was sneaking away to gallop as fast as I could through the large fields on our old farm and jumping fences in the woods. With this rebellious attitude, my parents knew it wouldn’t be long before I traded my velveteen helmet and beige britches for a helmet emblazoned with our racing colors. That grumpy little pony would be substituted for a thoroughbred racehorse with a powerful stride and a mind all his own. I was 15 when my father went before the Maryland Racing Commission to change a law stating that you had to be 16 to obtain an exercise license on the racetrack, but could become a jockey at the same age. He suggested the law be changed to grant an exercise license to anyone who was 15 and had a parent or legal guardian who was a licensed trainer in Maryland. This legal victory helped my dream of working at a racetrack become real and I began galloping horses for my parents at Bowie Training Center. I continued my duties in the shedrow and helped my mother run the barn, but galloping was my passion. I soon became good enough to breeze horses and prep them for real races. It became a goal to challenge myself and control tougher and more unruly horses. Over the years of galloping for my parents, we were fortunate enough to have several very talented horses make a stop at our barn before going on to become successful local racehorses. One winter, I remember looking down the aisle of our shedrow and counting five stakes horses. Being a small-time trainer in Maryland, and only having one major
From the time she was a little girl, Lacey knew she was destined for a life on the racetrack.
how it feels to stand in front of the grandstand and see something you worked so hard for, crush the competition and cross the finish line first. Then, there are those like me who dream of breaking free of that show ring and instructors telling you what to do. To be given the chance to care for an athletic beast and feel that power underneath you as you gallop around the racing oval. Those who chase that dream and fulfill it, will have a lifetime of great stories to tell and memories that can’t be matched. h Read Part Two in the March 17 edition of Stride Magazine. STRIDE MAGAZINE
March 3, 2010
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