By Kristin Bechthold
It is certainly not a stretch to assume that Stacy Charette-Hill has always been “horse-crazy.” From the time she could walk, her love of horses was evident. Her childhood was spent working on her father’s dairy farm and riding her horse after doing her chores. Her start in the horse industry began in barrel racing, which lead to using match races as a training tool. Two years later, in 1988, she began her career as a Quarter Horse racing trainer at Blue Ribbon Downs in Oklahoma. She currently trains 35 horses at Canterbury and 65 horses total.
Today, Charette-Hill races at Canterbury Park, Remington Park and Fair Meadows Race Track in Oklahoma, Prairie Meadows in Iowa, and Lone Star Park in Texas. She owns and operates a farm in Lexington, Oklahoma with her husband, Randy. The farm is home to her horses in training in the off season, her broodmares and foals, and her barrel racing horses. Her husband and full crew runs the farm while she is away during the race season. “We’re just a big, happy team,” she said. “I think that’s most of the reason for my success. I couldn’t do it without them.”
Outside of racing, Charette-Hill’s passion and focus is on barrel racing. “I love to race barrel horses and I’ve raised a lot of nice barrel horses,” she said. “Barrel racing is my true love, but racing is how I make my living.” Her other hobbies include watching movies and reading books. Being a dog lover, she also enjoys playing with her dogs. “I have three Jack Russells, a black lab, and anything else that wants to come to my house and be adopted,” she said. “The love of my life is my 14-year-old Jack Russell/mutt named Smokey.”
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Though it is totally opposite from her profession as a racing trainer today, Charette-Hill holds a degree in Accounting. Though she doesn’t particularly care for the subject, she chose it because her parents encouraged her to get a college education. “I worked a real job wearing dresses and heels and I hated every minute of it,” she said. “I’m a country girl, I grew up in the country, I grew up working, I grew up being outside and I love it.” If she could relive her life and choose another path, she would choose to go back to school and become an equine veterinarian.
Though she’s not ready to yet, her plan to retire from racing is to sell her farm, buy a motor home, and travel around sight-seeing without having any obligations. “Randy said, ‘Maybe in two years,’ but I said, ‘No. I’ll tell you when I’m ready,” she said with a smile.
