Get to Know Liz Gray – Ocala REALTOR® with Showcase Properties

After 30 years in the Thoroughbred racing industry, Elizabeth (Liz) Gray now uses her personal equine experience to help clients find perfect-for-them horse properties.

Born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, Liz was barely 8 when she was introduced to horses at summer camp. Her fascination endured and when she was about 10, her dad bought her a Palomino mare named Brandy.

After college at the former Mt. Vernon College in Washington DC, Liz attended Morven Park Equestrian school in Leesburg, Virginia, where she completed a 12–month course on stable management and got a teaching degree.

Working with horses was always the career plan.

Liz worked for two different professional riders in Middleburg and also at Firestone Farm in Waterford keeping Mrs. Firestone’s hunters legged up.

“Through some of the women I rode with, I discovered Middleburg Training Center and started galloping horses, which turned into a 30-year career with Thoroughbreds,” says Liz, who became a racehorse trainer and lived in Louisville for 17 years.

“I was fortunate to be around some great trainers,” she notes. “I probably learned the most from Bobby Frankel, but I also worked for Richard Mandella and shared a barn with Allen Jerkins for seven years, which was an education in itself.”

In the early ‘90s, Liz went on a gambling boat outing with friends. She ended up winning $42,000 and promptly used her windfall to buy a little house near Churchill Downs.

 It’s safe to say that was the start of her real estate adventures.“I painted, decorated, landscaped and lived there, renting out one bedroom to another girl who galloped racehorses. After two years, I flipped that house and bought another. From there I just kept buying and flipping, getting a little bigger and a little more expensive houses. I flipped several in Louisville and had one in Saratoga,” recalls Liz.

It only made sense that eventually she would end up in the horse country of Ocala. She was still working in the Thoroughbred racing industry when she decided to come to Ocala in 2016 to job hunt.

“I didn’t find a job, but I found a farm and bought it. That 10-acre farm in Morriston was my first farm ever. I sold the places I owned in Louisville and South Florida and decided to stay here,” says Liz.
Of course, she brought her horses with her. 

She’s imported a couple horses from Europe and remains active in the sport horse world as a breeder, owner and rider. Today, seven horses and a variety of other critters call her Breckinridge Farm home. 

With her experience in buying and selling homes, it was natural to pursue real estate after moving to the Ocala area. Liz went to real estate school, became a state-licensed REALTOR® in 2019 and joined the Showcase team in 2020.

Liz specializes in farm properties and admits she could happily drive around looking at farms all day.

“The more WEC grows, the more people want to be here. It has been a game changer. I’ve got incredible clients; it’s been a blessing. If you love what you do, it’s not work. I feel fortunate,” she says.

Many times, in the past when she couldn’t find exactly the right farm for a client, she showed them her own.

Liz enjoys putting time and effort into her real estate career, as well as renovating her own home. Of course, she still rides every day, often in the jump area she has set up under the shade of majestic oaks on her farm.

“Owning and managing my own farm has helped me to understand what people are looking for while shopping for property,” says Liz.

There have been many occasions when she’s shown a property just minutes out of the saddle.

“I’ve been on a horse, and someone calls asking me to show a property and I’ll jump in my car to meet them, still wearing my riding breeches,” she laughs.

For the record, the farm she bought here in 2016 is long gone, sold to a client looking for a just-right property that Liz happened to own.

“I’m on my fourth farm here now,” says Liz. “Usually after two years, I get the itch to start something new, but this one has such a good feel to it, I might stay put.” 

– by Cynthia McFarland

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