$10,000 Non Pro National Champion Jackson Gray

Nineteen year old Jackson Gray is a prime example of the new generation of Cutting Horse competitors out there at the moment. Although currently studying his Bachelor of Communications degree, he is very focused and definite about where he wants his future to be in the cutting horse industry. When asked if he wants to be a Journalist or a Cutting Horse trainer his answer is quick and to the point; “The Latter”.

Jackson is the son of well credentialed cutting horse trainer Phil Gray. Phil has been training and riding cutting horses for about thirty years now, which means Jackson has been around cutting horses all his life. His horse Ojay Spinson, by Docs Spinifex from Freckles Playgirl, was bred by his father and was foaled in 1998. In his Futurity year, Ojay finalled in the Non Pro Futurity ridden by Phil. After this he went off the boil and kept running off when he was competing. Jackson says “after his Futurity year he wasn't much good and it wasn't until he was about 6 that he came good again. I decided to show him and it took me about twelve months to get him going”. And the rest is history with Ojay Spinson now earning in excess of $10,000 in prize money, mostly ridden by Jackson , but Phil has had some good results with him too. “Ojay's had a pretty good year and now he's getting some good results under different riders. This year he's been ridden by about 7 or 8 different people”.

When Jackson rode into the ALEC Arena last Friday he didn't think he had any chance of winning the title. “I had a pretty average show at Chinchilla the previous weekend and fell from fourth in the standings to fifth; in fact I didn't know I had won the title until that night when a mate of mine Mark Heath told me that he'd read on the internet that I had won”. Jackson no doubt has a pretty big future in the cutting horse industry and is very definite in his opinions on the industry. When asked how he felt about winning the title Jackson said honestly, “I'm just grateful the NCHA put up a whole heap of money, if they didn't I wouldn't have won the title, the NCHA have set up a precedent and the extra prize money makes it all worthwhile”.

This year Jackson will head north with Phil Dawson to compete in the April and May events with Ojay Spinson and will also be showing his futurity horse at the upcoming futurities.