Sometimes - especially when it comes to race horses - you just never know.
Just ask impeccably talented trainer/driver/owner Jamie Gray.
“One of my longtime owners, Al Bird, called me just before Christmas and said he had found a just-turned three-year-old filly,” began Gray,
“He said the owner wanted to sell her for $20,000.
“I asked him what the horse’s name was because I wanted to check out her pedigree.
“Al said her name was Pup. That kind of turned me off right away. Pup? What kind of a name is that for a race horse?
“You might call a dog Pup but not a standardbred.”
It would get a whole lot worse.
Gray checked the pedigree and what he found made him blanche as if he had eaten two-week old hamburgers.
“The sire, Dali, was a really good racehorse. He won almost $1.5 million and 21 races.”
But he hasn’t been much of a stallion.
“I had one other horse by Dali: Dali’s Dancer, who Al also owned.
“He somehow won $90,000 but he only won one race in 19 starts this year.
“Dali’s Dancer was also really hard to handle. I didn’t need another horse like him,” said Gray, who usually trains well behaved horses.
The female side of Pup was worse. Much worse.
“Pup’s mother, Dog Soldier, never even qualified let alone race,” said Gray.
“Her grandmother, Barks Like A Dog (hence the name Pup), never qualified either,” said Gray.
“Nor did Pup’s only two siblings: Soldier Up and Rocket Wrangler.
“I told Al that,” Gray said.
“I also said ‘Don’t buy her,’ and ‘How do they think she’s worth $20,000?’”
Three weeks later Gray’s phone rang again. It was Al.
“He said ‘You’re going to be mad at me.’
Before Al said another word Gray said “You bought her didn’t you?”
Almost sheepishly Bird, 81, who owns Wild Dunes Stable, replied “Yes.”
“He said she’ll be at your farm on Friday.”
What a great decision.
Pup has won six of seven lifetime starts including a most impressive wire-to-wire hand-ride victory in the first elimination of the Gord and Illa Rumpel Memorial this past Saturday.
Parked through a first quarter in :28 3/5, Pup never looked back.
Now Pup is probably the odds on favourite in Saturday’s $89,160 Rumpel Final at Calgary’s Century Downs.
“Oh I don’t know about that,” replied Gray. “I think it’s a wide open race. There are four or five horses in the race that any owner would be proud to own.
“In no particular order there are Chasing The Dragon, Blue Star Aspire, Blue Star Strike, Terrible Custard and Josies Joules.
“Any of them can win. Whoever gets the best trip is going to win,” said Gray, 64, who works side by side with his wife of 36 years Shelley.
“She does all the work. And she’s been doing that with me for 40 years,” said Jamie, who, with Shelley, puts in 14-hour days six days a week.
They get up at 5 a.m. and usually don’t get home until after 7 p.m.
Gray has been Alberta’s winner of the first and second annual Keith Clark Horsemanship Award.
“The horsemanship award is very much akin to the O’Brien Horsemanship Award,” said Nancy Retzlaff, executive director for the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association (ASHA).
“It’s focused on trainers and primarily their success with young horses. Integrity honesty, work ethic, leadership and commitment to horse racing in Alberta are also considerations.”
“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,” added Jocelyn Giesbrecht, ASHA’s marketing and special events coordinator.
“He 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.”
At Wednesday’s post draw for the Rumpel - and the co-featured Ralph Klein Memorial - Pup got the advantageous rail and Terrible Custard, who smartly won the second elimination division of the Rumpel after coming first over at remarkably generous odds of 9-1, will start from post two.
The winners of the two eliminations of both the Rumpel and Klein flipped a coin to see who picked first in each Final. The loser of the toss picked second. The rest of the posts were allotted at random.
Of note, Chasing The Dragon, who raced uncovered and two-wide most of the way before finishing third in her elimination against Pup, got post four while Josies Joules, the 1-9 favourite in the second elimination who set the pace, wound up outside in post eight. Blue Star Strike, second in her elimination after winning the Diamond elimination and the $54,800 Final, didn’t fare much better getting post seven.
The same procedure was used for the $97,220 Klein. Rockin Buddy a 42-1 bomb winner of the first elimination after getting a perfect rail trip behind 3-4 favourite Edwin Hanover, chose the rail; Vladdy G, who won his second elimination division as the 7-5 second favourite after a perfect trip behind 4-5 top choice Boleto A Mexico, chose post two; Boleto A Mexico, got post three. Edwin Hanover starts from the trailing post nine.
Like Pup, Boleto A Mexico, is trained, driven and co-owned by Gray and will be tough to beat.
Boleto A Mexico swept the Marksman elimination and $55,400 Final.
“And he did all the work last week and only lost by a neck. Vladdy G never had to get off the wood until the head of the lane. He just got behind Boleto.
“It will be interesting,” said Gray, who has a third entrant in Saturday’s two enticing stakes - Ruler Of Dragons in the Klein. Just missing in the Marksman, Ruler Of Dragons, who has been first or second in 11 of 13 career starts, got post four.
But back to Pup.
Will Pup use the rail to try and go wire to wire?
“No,” Gray said definitively.
“She won but she got lost on the front end last week. I like it better when she sees something in front of her. I think she does too.
“She’s like Custard Dolce in that way,” Gray said of the 2025 Alberta Horse of the Year, who won eight of 12 starts last year before being sold to New York’s Kellogg Racing Stables and who recently won in 1:49 3/5 at Plainville Park, Massachusetts over their five-eighths mile track.
Custard Dolce, whose numerous wins included the Rumpel, didn’t like to be in front - except at the finish line - either.
Put on the lead in last year’s Super Finals, which would be her last race in Alberta when she was sent off at 3-5 odds, Custard Dolce, who went eight for eight as a two-year-old - all in stakes races - fell apart in the stretch.
“But who knows?” said Gray. “We’ll see what happens at the gate.”
Also like Custard Dolce, Pup is a big filly, who kicks into stride right away.
“It’s the mark of a good horse.”
Gray said he was impressed with Pup almost from the beginning despite telling Bird, who has been partners with Gray for some 10 years, not to buy her.
“While I was putting my conditioning into her I thought ‘Holy crap; she’s got some go.’
“She’s a big, strong, long striding filly with a beautiful gait.
“As times went on she just continued to get better and better and better.
“She’s a tremendous horse to drive,” said Gray, who was born just outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
“After I told Al that he might get lucky with Pup he said ‘I’ll do the picking; you do the training,’” laughed Gray, whose father, Allan, a pipe fitter, trained standardbreds as a hobby.
Two of Al’s uncles were also into horse racing.
“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.”
Pup was sensational in her maiden voyage on May 29. Far back - 12 lengths behind after half a mile - Pup showed her stuff taking the lead at the top of the stretch and winning by three easy lengths in 1:57 2/5.
She was the betting favourite that day and has been favoured in all of her seven races.
“Regardless of how she does on Saturday she’s going to get some well deserved time off. She’s not Alberta-bred; she was foaled in B.C. so there are only two big races left for her this year - the Super Finals and the Century Pace both at The Mile,” said Gray. “And those aren’t until November.”
STOCK REPORT - In thoroughbred news now Alberta-based Western Warrior won Monday’s $125,000 Manitoba Derby at Assiniboia Downs by a nose over 27-1 longshot Quarry.
Owned by Gordon Christoff and Lance Giesbrecht, ridden by Dane Nelson and trained by Dino Condilenios, Western Warrior was the 2-1 morning line favourite but still paid $18.10 to win.
He never had to leave the rail and almost went down when another horse crossed in front of him.
“He was tired at the end of the race,” said Condilenios. “But I think that was because he may have been a touch short. With all the rain he missed a few of his scheduled works.”
Western Warrior will now head back to Century Mile to prepare for the August 22 Canadian Derby.
The Manitoba Derby was a mile and an eighth; the Canadian Derby is a mile and a quarter.
But Condilenios said he doesn’t think that will be a factor.
“I honestly don’t think so. I think he will run all day.
“I’m excited for him. At this point I wouldn’t change shoes with anybody.”
Previously based in Kentucky and Arkansas where he raced against some tough customers, it was Western Warrior’s fourth win in 10 starts.
An all-time record handle of $4.9 million was set for Assiniboia Downs on a seven-race card.
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Inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2017.
Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.