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Camelia Casby isn’t the first person in Thoroughbred racing who learned about the game the hard way. However, she stuck it out, found a certain level of success, and possesses a positive outlook that sees the blue sky on the horizon rather than the dark clouds.
Casby, a native Minnesotan who now lives near Canterbury Downs in Shakopee, first put her toe in the water as an owner back in the early 1990s with a Minnesota-bred 2-year-old. While her initial outlay was a mere $800, what followed turned into a seven-figure education.
“I had a trainer who had been a jockey and had no idea what to do,” Casby said. “She only won one race…I learned about the business in self-defense.”
That early experience didn’t sway her from the game, however, and that horse, La Muttering, turned out to be the dam of one of five homebred stakes winners Casby sent out in 2007. Casby’s numbers with homebreds that year led her to being named her state’s Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association award winner.
About La Muttering Casby remembered, “I don’t think she ever got to run the same distance twice; she never even had shoes on her until right before her first race. But now, I’ve got this good stakes filly and we’ve got daughters and granddaughters running out of that family.
“Her daughter is Laurentide Ice,” Casby said. A 5-year-old filly by Intidab, Laurentide Ice has won two New York-bred stakes and has earned $236,151 for Casby.
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