Former TU Center Dupy Joins Family Horse Racing Business

Former TU center Trent Dupy's college football days might be over but his career owning race horses is off and running.

"I've been around horse racing my entire life. My father started racing because my grandfather did it as a hobby mostly. This is going on our sixth year with the Southern Okie boys now, and it started out as kind of a fun thing to do with the family, but it turned into a bigger business now," said Dupy.  

Dupy is a third-generation owner. After watching his dad's team for years, he's branching out on his own. The name fits for the former Golden Hurricane lineman: Hurricane Racing.

"Whenever I'm not playing football, horse racing's definitely number one. There's nothing like it. You can't get an adrenaline rush like when your horse is coming down the lane, you think it has a shot, there's nothing like it."

As a four-year starter at TU, Dupy has spent plenty of time in film rooms, but football's not all he's been studying. He's also been looking for his next big payday.

"My whole football career at TU I was doing this too. I was watching replays for my dad or picking our horses to claim...it kind of helped me keep my mind off the grind of football."

Dupy is used to winning. His Hurricane stormed to an 11-3 mark in 2012, including a Conference USA title and a win over Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl. But he knows horse racing is a different beast.  So does his father, Steve.

"You win more ballgames than you do horse races. If you can win 20% of the races, or 10%, you're doing really well, so there's a lot of lows, but there's always another day," said the elder Dupy.

Trent also knows that a patient approach will pay off in the end. 

"It's a long process, and you have to be patient because they're not machines. You train for months and months for one race. Just like football, you practice all week for that game, and that's what makes it worthwhile."