by Natalie Hoepner
Mike and Vicki McGowan, from Xtreme Racing Stables, were pulled into horse racing through racehorse trainer Joe Bera’s daughter, Dawn. She encouraged Mike and Vicki to visit Canterbury Park to see family horse Cassidilly race, advertising that her dad barbeques.
Vicki wanted to “look at all the horses and see them” and Bera’s other daughter Melanie convinced Mike and Vicki to go half in on Train Wreck Jack during their first night at Canterbury Park.
Once Train Wreck Jack won, Mike became more interested.
Bera stopped training in 2017, and Mike and Vicki transitioned to Mac Robertson’s barn at Canterbury Park.
“Horses come first with Mac,” Vicki said. “If he doesn’t respond to you, he’s dealing with horses.”
Mike said Robertson taught him a lot about racehorses.
As the knowledge grew, so did the Xtreme Racing Stables.
“It got to a point where it was going to be a hobby or a business,” Mike said. “She wanted to get into it more as a business.”
Once they had confidence in the business, Mike and Vicki started attending more auctions and trusting Robertson’s advice.
Vicki hopes that her horses will make it to bigger races and the two want to get into breeding their mares.
“Right now we think we’ve got one or two that we could turn into broodmares,” Mike said.
The McGowans enjoy coming to Canterbury with family and friends and visiting other racetracks.
Xtreme Racing Stables has won with six of 15 starters and are currently tied for second in the owner standings.
