They call him 'Cowboy': This Canton football player earned his nickname racing horses

CANTON — Gavin Otto loves to saddle up as a kick returner and safety for Canton football team. And the kid everyone calls "Cowboy" is a perfect match for another teammate who has four legs and a lot of horsepower.

Otto grew up around horses. He has an 18-year-old horse named BCS Disco Rabbit. They compete around the Midwest in flag and plug rodeo-type racing events with the sophomore at the reins.

"I've been around horses as long as I can remember," said Otto, the son of Farmington athletic director Jeff Otto. "I was a barrel racer as a kid because my mom (Jill) and my aunt were. My older brother, Evan, got into flag racing.

"I just fell in love with running horses. When I was 13 my uncle (Chris Trone) gave me a horse he had been running, named BCS Disco Rabbit, his barn name is simply Disco.

"He's not huge, but he's 16½ hands and he's just a great horse. We've been everywhere together."

Otto isn't huge, either, checking in at 5-foot-8, 140 pounds.

Flag and plug racing

In a flag race, rider and horse come blasting out of a long chute and hit the track at full speed in a timed race.

The rider must reach down and grab a flag out of a barrel while passing by at full speed, continue down to a turnaround point, then race back and plant the flag in another bucket (and the flag has to stay in the bucket or it doesn't count) at the finish line.

Plug races are essentially down-and-back sprints staged in a ring.

"We start racing during May if we have our horses exercised and ready," Otto said. "We have a flag-racing family from Indiana, Tennessee and Arkansas. Not all blood family but many are very close friends.

"We travel to race events together and we're racing for money and points and win saddles, halters and other things."

Those races are sanctioned by the National Flag Racing Association, based in Indiana. There have been at least 40 race events staged in 2023, in places from Hoosier Horse Park in Edinburgh, Ind., to Central Kentucky Expo Center in Liberty, Ky., Flying H Arena in Halls, Tenn., and more.

According to the NFRA point standings, Disco and Otto were 16th on a list of 93 horses and riders through August.

"The World Flag Race is in Milan, Tenn.," Otto said. "Our family and friends will race a lot over at (Hoosier Race Park) in Edinburgh, Ind., and at 4 Four Rocks Arena in Delavan."

Growing up with horsepower

Gavin Otto has a twin, Lakon, and two other brothers, Evan and Kaden.

"I learned a lot about horses and racing from my grandpa, Jim Trone," Otto said. "He died last year. We'll all ride in a memorial race for him later this fall.

Oto remembers being in a show in Knoxville, watching NFRA Hall of Famer Danny Griffith. Otto was about 4 or 5 years old at the time. That was the start.

"When I started out, my mom and aunt would put us on a horse and lead us around," he said. "I was probably about 5 years old when they let me take the reins and go myself."

Otto also says he and his brother, Evan, more "oddly alike," even more than Gavin and his twin — and Gavin especially the people Evan races with.

"We're all just happy for each other, and to get a pin," Otto said. "We like it. Like to go fast and hang out with all the others. There's a lot of people in flag racing who are really good. I like watching everyone. Especially my brother, Evan. I love to watch him the most."

Football and concussions

Gavin Otto likes to go fast and ride hard playing football, too.

"I played football since I was old enough to do flag football," he said. "There's never been a year when I didn't play."

He's played baseball and basketball, too, and this year in high school will add basketball and track to football.

"It's been a rough two weeks, I've been to the ER a couple of times," Otto said. "I play JV and varsity games, and I got injured, a head injury, in our JV game against Morton, and ended up with a small brain bleed.

"Hopefully I'll be able to run and stay balanced and focused and get back on the field."

And on Disco, of course.

As for the injury in that Morton game, well, chalk it up to the "Cowboy" way.

"I was hitting kids as hard as I could," Otto said. "Because, well, it's Morton."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Canton football player nicknamed 'Cowboy' made his mark racing horses