For more than an hour on a hot day in July, 7-year-old Alayna Gray sat at a table at Saratoga Race Course. Surrounded by paper, pencils, art supplies and other young artists, she painstakingly made a brown and white painted horse named Molly come to life on paper.
“I put flowers around her ears, like a ring of flowers, and garland around her neck. I did that so it looked like she won a race and I put a banner on top that said ‘Be a winner, come to Saratoga Race Course,’” said Gray, of Johnstown.
She made the poster because she loves drawing and she picked Molly because she loves Molly. Never did it cross her mind that combining her two simple loves would win her the experience of her lifetime.
Gray won the inaugural poster contest held at Saratoga Race Course’s Open House in July. She got to name a race in her honor and stood in the winner’s circle to present a trophy to winning trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, Jockey Eddie Castro and owner Harvey Clarke after the Alayna Gray Race on Sunday, Aug. 21.
“I couldn’t really even talk, I was so surprised,” said Gray. “I was really happy and it was a good experience.”
She’s soft spoken when recounting the experience, but Gray’s mother, Dorianne, said it’s something she’s sure to remember forever.
“She was totally overwhelmed … she was just on cloud nine being the horse lover like she is,” said Dorianne Gray. “I think she’ll always remember this as one of her special days for her whole life. She said ‘this is the place I want to be’ … she felt very special all day long.”
Dorianne Gray said she didn’t even realize what her daughter’s poster creation was for until a surprising phone call from NYRA.
“She just wanted to do the poster, we didn’t even discuss the prizes or what there was because she just wanted to do a craft,” said Dorianne Gray. “There were so many things to do at the track that day and I was telling her ‘We’ll miss all the fun things’ but she said she wanted to do this poster … then the NYRA people called and she was literally jumping up and down.”
Once her unexpected prize was revealed, Gray went into planning mode.
“Whenever we go [to Saratoga] we always dress up and she spent a lot of time figuring out what she wanted to wear. We went through four dresses deciding which one,” said Dorianne Gray. “We went and looked for hats but didn’t find one so we designed that hat … she loves blue so she wanted to wear blue.”
Gray got more than her name attached to a race. She spent time with the jockeys and took away special souvenirs.
“She ran after the jockeys and it was very important for her to get the autographs from the jockeys … she went in the jockey hut and one of them gave her an autographed pair of goggles so that was really awesome, I thought that was very generous of him,” said Dorianne Gray. “He also gave her a spare pair she can use when she rides.”
Her love of riding is why the horse extravaganza was her perfect experience. Gray has been riding Molly since she was 5 (and begging her mother for many years before that).
“I like Molly and she’s a nice horse but sometimes she can be a little stubborn because she’s a younger horse and she can’t help it,” said Gray. “I’ve just loved horses since I was a baby.”
Maybe it’s because she has natural talent, or maybe it’s her extreme passion and devotion to riding, but Gray said it’s not hard at all.
“It’s actually easy because once you start learning it’s pretty easy,” said Gray, who is very proud to have never fallen off. “My riding teacher said that I could do one of the small jumps they have by next riding lesson. I learn to trot and walk and I hope I can canter.”
And according to Dorianne Gray, Alayna has a new career goal in mind.
“She said ‘I can be a jockey’ but she’s very tall for 7 so I had to say ‘I don’t think you’ll be able to be a jockey because you have to be of smaller stature,’” said Dorianne Gray. “She said she’ll start training now while she’s little.”
