The fast-paced business of Quarter Horse racing is very different from the horse world that Bryanne Langford belonged to when she was a younger girl.
Riding horses as a young girl and showing at the North York Pony Club as a teenager, Langford was a horse lover but knew little of racing.
“My background is working with hunter/jumpers and basically just having a horse as a pet and hobby,” said Langford, who grew up in Brampton, ON.
Five years ago, Langford met her partner Jason Pascoe, a top equestrian who had just entered the Quarter Horse racing scene himself, and together they opened GFR Equine Services in Pontypool. ON.
In true fairytale fashion, the first horse the couple bought together not only became a champion on the track but the horse who has changed Langford’s life.
His name is Streakinshagginwagon, or Waggy, and in 2012, Pascoe and Langford purchased the Ontario bred gelding who was bred by Cendy and Skip Stucks. A son of PYC Paint Your Wagon, Waggy quickly formed a bond with Langford.
“He was one of the first horses we chose together and is basically everything I love in a horse. He is full of personality, classy and loves his job. He makes me laugh on a daily basis.”
Oh, and he’s a pretty good racehorse too.
Waggy won his maiden in his third career start at Ajax Downs and promptly won a trial race for the Ajax Juvenile Challenge before finishing second in the Challenge final. He qualified for a chance at the Grade 2 Los Alamitos AQHA Juvenile Challenge and earned $6,000 for a sixth-place finish.
It was the bay gelding’s 3-year-old season that launched the profile of Langford and Pascoe’s business and provided them with thrills they could never have imagined having.
Stresakinshagginwagon won his first three races of 2014 including the $104,000 Picov Derby under veteran rider Ed Walton. It was a huge victory for Langford and Pascoe and the biggest win for Walton.
Waggy would win five of his seven races in 2014, earning him the Quarter Racing Owners of Ontario Inc. Horse of the Year Award and the AQHA Canadian Horse of the Year Award.
The gelding had some bad luck in 2015 but finished third in one of the trial races for the Alex Picov Memorial.
Langford, who does barn chores and helps with training of the 20-horses stable with Pascoe each day, says Waggy is an attention seeker as soon as she enters the barn.
“He is just a really goofy, playful horse. He loves life and has lots of fun with anything he does. He just loves people and wants attention all the time. If I am petting another horse, he actually will bob his head and paw at his door until I pet him.”
While Langford is hoping that Waggy has some better luck in his races in 2016, she is anxiously awaiting the arrival of a sibling to her horse-idol. The gelding’s dam La Jollas Fortune is due to foal to Wagons West, a son of PYC Paint Your Wagon.
“I check on her every hour or so,” said Langford. “I can’t wait to see her foal.”
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