Summer vibes flow throughout the year for novice trainer Catherine Davies

by Chris Lomon

The first race on what was the last day of summer was an emotional moment for Catherine Davies, not only for who was there, but also who was not.

When the field of five lined up behind the starter for the curtain-raising dash on Sept. 21, 2024, the former registered nurse and rookie trainer exhaled and tracked every move of Summer Vibes, a daughter of Lazarus N, who got away third.

Second, two lengths behind the leader with a quarter-of-a-mile left to pace, Summer Vibes, with Wayne Watson in the race bike, struck front in mid-stretch and powered home to record a three-quarter-length win in 2:02.2.

And that is when Davies began to cry, a mix of happy and sad tears.

“My dad had just passed away the month before, so I put one of his only coolers on her in the paddock – one of the only ones he kept,” she said. “And then I watched her come down the stretch and all I could think was, ‘Oh my God, she just won.’ I knew I had an extra set of hands in my corner that day.”

Davies also had a sea of smiling faces awaiting her in the winner’s circle to celebrate her first training victory.

“My husband, Owen Davies, and my son were there,” Catherine said. “Owen’s family was there, too, and our barn family. We’re a close-knit group here in Woodstock and we all cheer for one another. It was quite a moment.”

Especially considering what had transpired the week prior.

Summer Vibes had crossed the wire first in the opening dash on the Woodstock card on Sept. 14 but was disqualified and placed third for interference.

Ironically, it was stablemate Whywhywhy Delilah she caused to go off-stride.

“Our driver knew,” Catherine said. “It was just one of those things that happened. It was disappointing, but Summer Vibes raced well.”

The horse with the modest price tag — $5,000 at the 2023 Harrisburg Yearling Sale — was only getting started.

On Sept. 28, again at Woodstock, Summer Vibes, at 29-1, took all the spoils, by a scant nose, in the $15,000 New Brunswick Breeders Stake second leg for 2-year-old pacing fillies.

By season’s end, Catherine fashioned a 2-0-1 record from eight starts in her rookie training campaign.

“I just learned so much,” she said. “My husband is a great teacher, and I learn every day from him. It’s a challenge with babies. We also have a horse racing in Maine called Coronation Moon. She is with Owen’s brother Ivan, who is stabled in Maine. We only had her down to 2:45 when we sent her to Ivan. She was miserable to break. You know that saying about it taking a small village to raise a child? It was the same thing when it came to breaking her. She had a good season, two wins and a third in the final out there. She is with us right now for the winter.”

As are another duo.

“We have two that we bought in Harrisburg,” Catherine said. “Lady Spencer was the one we were looking at when we went to the sale, but Lazer Lights went through the sale first — they are both Lazarus N horses — and the bid was so low, we just couldn’t let him go at that price. So, he came home with us, too.”

Catherine felt right at home in her second year of training.

There would be no sophomore jinx for Catherine in 2025, who put up personal-best numbers, thanks in large part to the efforts of Summer Vibes and Whywhywhy Delilah.

“Summer Vibes wasn’t even the one we went to look at in Harrisburg,” she said. “Owen had his heart set on Whywhywhy Delilah. We were looking around, and I just liked her. We looked at the breeding and she went through the ring and we got her at a decent price. She has done nothing wrong. Owen teases me and says, ‘She is Cathy’s can’t-do-anything-wrong girl.’”

Catherine didn’t do much, if anything, wrong either.

She has crafted a 7-7-4 record from 27 starts in 2025, accompanied by a lofty .452 UTRS.

That Catherine finds herself immersed in standardbred racing to this degree is no surprise when you look at her family’s longstanding association with the sport.

“My dad had racehorses for the longest time, and he had them with my brother-in-law,” she said. “Then I got involved. The last horse my dad had, Robbin Down, tugged at my heart and I started jogging her. And then I met my husband, whose family has been in the harness racing business forever. We have been married 28 years now and as they say, the rest is history. I was destined to be in it, one way or another.”

Training and owning racehorses were not on the radar until last year.

A major life change was the impetus behind the decision.

“I retired in 2024, in October, after 40 years as a registered nurse,” Catherine said. “I wondered what I was going to do with retirement. I knew I might be bored. I have been a nurse since I was 19. I was always involved in racing, but not to this degree, because of shift work.

“Owen told me I might as well get my trainer’s license. I didn’t quite plan to retire at the time — my dad had just died, and it took a toll on me — so I went hands-on, full-time, with the horses.”

It has been a labor of love despite the labor-intensive demands of the industry.

“By the time you get done with the horses, we’re exhausted,” she said. “They get turned out every day here at home. We take them to the track — it is only a 10-minute drive — and jog or train them, and they can come back home and get turned out. Then it is time for supper, you watch TV for a bit, and go to bed. I also go to CrossFit five times a week. I started that a year and a half ago.”

She has kept pace, along with her husband, in the racing world, too.

“I have discovered that racing is just as hard or even harder, in some ways, than nursing,” Catherine said. “Most of my career was in the emergency room. Owen works for Canada Post, so we look at racing as a team effort.”

Catherine has much to look forward to heading into her third year of training.

Expectations, she noted, are high for a prosperous 2026.

“Whywhywhy Delilah, in her last two starts, she has really come into herself,” she said. “It is like the light switch came on, which is what we had hoped for last year. We are going to keep her and Summer Vibes. We were going to breed them, but we don’t feel Summer Vibes has completely come into herself yet.

“Lazer Lights didn’t start this year. He was broke a little bit later on, he was sick, and we had him gelded. We are pleased with him so far, so hopefully, he will come back and have a nice 3-year-old season. Lady Spencer has been just like Summer Vibes – she knows what to do. She has the same heart. We raced her in a stakes here and then just turned her out.”

The plan is to fill another stall in the stable.

“We also hope to buy one more at the Harrisburg sale,” she said. “The goal is to keep them healthy and that they train back well.”

Catherine will continue to embrace those happy tears or the odd sad ones — in the past or those to come — that are part of her horse racing journey.

“Being a trainer and owning horses has been wonderful,” she said. “It is great to know I will always have a lot of great people in my corner.”