by Chris Lomon

The irony isn’t lost on Paige Usiak.

“I grew up 15 minutes away from Buffalo Raceway,” Usiak said. “I’ve lived in the city my whole life and I never knew that harness racing was a thing. I didn’t know we had a racetrack in Buffalo. I’ve always been obsessed with horses since I can remember, but living in the city, I didn’t have access to that. Now, I do and it’s my goal to find those people like me. They exist.”

Usiak is the marketing coordinator for Buffalo Raceway, a role she has held for the past four years.

How it came to be is far from a traditional tale for the Buffalo native, whose curiosity with the standardbred industry grew exponentially around five years ago.

“It’s actually a pretty interesting story,” she said. “When I was around 18, I got a job at a feed store and I thought this would be the way to make connections with the people that have the horses, the people I want to work with. If anyone came in to buy horse feed, I’d ask them if they needed help, if they needed someone to clean stalls.”

Those near daily interactions eventually led her to the backstretch.

“I got my first job working around horses as a groom with standardbred racehorses,” Usiak said. “From there it just kind of took off. There was a job opening to clean the ship-in barn at Buffalo Raceway and I took that position. I did that for about a year and it just opened more doors for me.”

Plenty of them, in fact.

“Aside from the marketing coordinator position, I also own a couple of standardbreds,” she said. “The days that I’m not doing the marketing role, I’m out jogging horses.”

The perks are plentiful.

Perhaps the most treasured part of Usiak’s racing career is the variety she experiences each day she’s at the racetrack.

Tedium is never an issue.

“I love doing it all,” Usiak said. “I love to learn new things and that would be my favorite part of what I do. You meet someone new every day and you learn something new every day. It’s just incredible. There is nothing else I would rather do. I love my job so much. To interact with horses in one way or another is fantastic. And there are so many amazing horse people at Buffalo Raceway. We’re starting to grow again. We are starting to see a lot of new faces. It’s so cool to connect with these people, to hear their stories and then tell them.”

Usiak embraces any chance to sit in the race bike.

“I’m just happy when I do that,” she said. “I have a couple that I really love to jog. Proven Desire, who was bred in PEI [Prince Edward Island], he’s one of my favorite horses. He’s in the barn of my trainer. He’s just so happy to jog and do his job. All the horses I jog love what they do and you’re just happy when you’re out there. Nothing else really matters when you are in that moment. You forget about everything.”

Watching the pacer that she co-owns with trainer James Clouser compete at her hometown track is also a thrill ride for Usiak.

She claimed the 6-year-old daughter of Mach Three last November at Batavia Downs.

“This is the second standardbred that I bought,” Usiak said. “I’m hoping to have some success with her. She’s a lot of fun, a lot easier to handle than the first one I bought. My first one was a roan and there is that thought where the grey ones can be a little crazy. And he was definitely that.”

Keeping pace with all her duties, some official, others she has taken on herself, makes for a busy day and night at the racetrack.

All of it, however, is done with Usiak fashioning a big smile.

“I started a horseman of the month award last year and I’ve taken it a step further,” she said. “We do interviews now. It’s just really rewarding to shine the light on the horse people. I want people to see what I see every day, so many great stories and such an interesting sport.”

A sport she is grateful to have found.

Usiak, who owns a gray Paint which she shows at ranch classes in Western New York, remains committed to bringing new faces into the harness racing fold, whether they are seated in the grandstand or working on the backstretch.

“Really, you don’t have to be a fan of horses,” Usiak said. “It’s so amazing to hear how people ended up where they are in the business. It’s a unique industry. It’s actually very inclusive, where everyone can find something to be part of. You don’t even have to have experience with horses. I just hired a groom for my trainer who has never touched a horse. And she’s doing great.

“If there’s anything I’ve learned — I never saw any of this coming — it’s that setting long-term goals isn’t for me. I take things day-to-day and just keep an open mind. I went to school for architecture and now I’m in marketing. I want to do something that makes me happy and I’m doing that right now. I feel like sometimes if you have a long-term goal, it can close doors for you. I guess my long-term goal is to do something that makes me happy and that’s where I am right now.”

When she’s not at the racetrack or in the sulky, Usiak can often be found with a paint brush or pencil in hand, crafting artwork in a quiet corner of her home.

“I like to paint,” Usiak said. “I do landscapes, horses and some other things. I also like to draw cartoons. I live a pretty active lifestyle, so sometimes it’s nice to be able to sit back in a corner of the house and do some painting or a little doodle. I don’t really share them with anybody, but it’s a little different.”

Crafting something personally rewarding, in a humble way, just seems to come naturally for Usiak.

Whether it’s artwork or office work, creating something fulfilling, for herself and others, remains a top priority.

“I’m not unique,” she said. “I know there are a lot more horse-obsessed people out there, who don’t realize just how wonderful this sport is. I want to help find them and introduce them to it. I found it and I feel so fortunate that I did.”