Never in her wildest dreams did Beverly Gray imagine her proclivity for horses and sports would combine into a lifetime of jaw-dropping experiences and exotic travels.
The long-time Summit County resident has been part of the U.S. Equestrian Team in the World Equestrian Games, has raced in the President’s Cup race in Dubai, and raced all around South America, the mountains of the Sierra Nevadas and the deserts of Utah.
And most recently, her endurance racing took her to the dark jungles of Malaysia, where she was invited by the royal family to participate in her third Sultan’s Cup endurance race.
The race hosted 80 local and international riders in a 75-mile course through the tropical forest.
Gray said the race was conducted at night during a full moon.
“You would hear all kinds of noises in the trees,” said Gray, laughing about the unknown around her and her horse during the nocturnal race. “You don’t what’s out there.”
Rewind back to when Gray was an 18-year-old college student at the University of Utah and had just moved to the Beehive State. Always a lover and rider of horses, Gray got involved in Ride and Tie, a race that features two riders/runners and one horse using an exchanged-riding strategy over a designated course.
Gray’s team was unbeatable for nearly a decade in the late ’70s and early ’80s in Park City.
“We used to have the championships at Deer Valley before it was Deer Valley,” she said.
Gray, a marathon runner, also became involved with equine endurance racing one of eight separate disciplines in the World Equestrian Games that features long-distance horse racing on courses that range anywhere from 25 to 100 miles.
After the she became acclimatized to the sport of endurance racing, Gray’s career took off and took her to places previously unimaginable.
She was elected to the U.S. Equestrian squad in 2000 and competed in Jerez, Spain, in the 2002 World Equestrian Games.
In the 2004 Dubai Gold Cup, Gray finished 14th overall out of a field of 110 participants, a race in which only 16 riders were able to cross the finish line.
She also won a team silver medal at the 2003 Pan American Championship.
In November, Gray took the trip to Malaysia at the behest of the country’s king. She rode the king’s royal horses, which she said were conditioned very well.
She described the climate there as very humid and somewhat difficult to race in year round. A portion of the race was even on the beach.
“The sport of endurance racing has become quite global,” she said. “It’s just a very small world in endurance racing.”
Small enough to get personal invites from the sheikh of the United Arab Emirates, who has asked Gray numerous times for advice on horses and has leased a few of Gray’s Arabian horses.
Gray said that 95 percent of equines in endurance racing are Arabian or part-Arabian, but she has seen some ponies (smaller-sized horses) and draft horses compete as well.
“It’s open to all equestrian horses,” she said.
Gray said that anyone can become involved with endurance racing, whether it be a family, children or seniors’.
So after circling the world numerous times, why does she stay in Summit County and Kamas?
“It’s a perfect horse town,” Gray said.
All of her horses are kept at her home in Kamas, ready for the next adventure around the corner.
“I can’t believe all that I’ve been able to accomplish,” Gray said. “I jumped that moon; everything else is just ice cream on top of the cake. I am always grateful for how every day has turned out.”