by Victoria Howard

Debbie Brunet has a very rare story to tell. Despite the fact that she and her husband have worked together in the barn for five decades, they defied the odds and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last year. That’s quite an accomplishment in today’s world.

Being with your mate 24/7 is difficult no matter what business you’re in. Supporting each other and staying attentive to one another’s needs is not an easy job.

Being involved in the sport of harness racing is hard enough when you’re single, for you’re “married” to the business, spending most of your time with the horses, instead of at home. You’ll most likely miss out on things like your children’s activities and birthdays, etc., for you train in the day and race at night. And if you ship to other tracks, you are on the road a lot.

Horses require all our attention and love. They are not machines that can be ignored or tossed aside. They need and demand your time; thus, they take time away from your home life.

Debbie Brunet was born in Brookville NY. Sadly, her father died when she was only 10 years old. Until his death, her father, Frank Zaza, owned standardbreds; some of whom were trained by Eddie Cobb.

After his death, Debbie and her mom moved to California where her mother eventually met and married horse trainer, Jack Sherren.

“It was the winter of 1970 when I met my future husband, Gates [Brunet],” Debbie said. “He came from Canada with some of his father’s horses. I was 16 years old and Gates was 18. Gates was supposed to take a year off before going to the University, but that didn’t happen.

“I guess you could say I changed his plans. We dated for two years and then married in 1972, and have been married ever since.”

Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Debbie drove a little. During her career, she won 12 times in 60 starts. Not a bad percentage at all. She also participated in a Women’s Driving Championship in Montreal in the ’80s.

“After working for my father four years, Gates and I decided to go east to Vernon with trainer Jack Bailey,” Debbie said. “Gates trained for Jack while I groomed. We then went to Pompano where I got a job working for Dick Oldfield and my husband worked for Jay Sears. We became good friends with Jay, his father Gene, son Brian and daughter Jennifer, which we cherish to this day. Jay drove some for us before he gave Gates a chance to drive. He was successful, so we decided to go out on our own. Jay was the person who really gave my husband his start as a driver.

“Throughout our career, we’ve had some nice horses. Our best horse was Muscle King who is now 23 years old and happily retired. Muscle King won the Blue Grass, Matron, NJSS, and was beat a nose by the great Mr. Muscleman in the [Canadian Trotting Classic] which at the time was the richest race [$1.4 million] in Canada. Muscle King is literally a family member who travels everywhere we go. He is a lucky boy who gets to spend winters in Florida with us.”

Muscle King was not Debbie’s only top horse.

“We’ve also had New York Sires Stakes champions Cowgirl Hall, Coraggioso, Dear Old Boy, Stardust, Hay Goodlooking and Some Girls,” she said. “We also trained a California Sire Stake champion called Capital Game [by Camp David] that I bought as a yearling for $600.”

Fast forward to today and the Brunets are based at Vernon Downs and currently train seven horses. During the winter, they relocate to Southern Oaks Training Center in northern Florida.

“We race mostly at Vernon, Tioga and Pocono Downs, but have raced our horses in about every jurisdiction, including Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, California, Florida, Ontario and Quebec,” Debbie said. “If there’s a harness track, we most likely raced there at one time.”

Debbie has found that the secret to a long marriage is sharing the barn work.

“I take care of the horses that rotate at our farm and Gates does the training, shoeing and most of the driving,” she said adding with a laugh. “I overlook the daily duties and drive my husband to the hospital when he needs to go to the Emergency room. I also take the horses on the road when he’s racing at other tracks.

“I guess you can say in the 50 years of working together our relationship at the barn has run the gamut from tempestuous to harmonious. We survived, and my husband is still my best friend, along with everything else. We feel blessed to get to spend winters at Southern Oaks where we have made some new friends that we enjoy tremendously, while still doing what we both love the most, training horses.”

Over the past 20 years, the Brunets trained for some of the best owners in the business, such as Ted Gewertz, Al and Michelle Crawford, and Gates’ brother, Jean.

“At one time we also trained for Bob McNerney, Harry Harvey, Tom Durkin, Joe Spadaro, Ken Jacobs, Winbak Farms, Irv Liverman, Jim Doherty, Emil Benvenuto, the Purple Haze Stable, Martha Frank and others,” Debbie said.

As for retirement, Debbie says there’s is nothing officially in their plans.

“My husband says we will retire when the phone stops ringing so as long as our health holds out, we’ll be around for a while,” she said.