Trainer Barb Minshall closing in on 500 career wins

Barb Minshall is known for her fantastic success on the track, not in the swimming pool. But when asked what her goals might be this season, the Woodbine training legend replied: “To keep my head above water.”

Which is probably the goal of a great many thoroughbred trainers these days.

“I’d like to break even,” the winner of 18 races and $1,139.421 in earnings in 2025 at Woodbine said from her Ocala, Florida home. “But it’s tough. I’ve got a large staff that has worked for me for a long time. And you’ve got to pay well to have good people. But there’s no question, it’s tough, because everything goes up. The purses at Woodbine, I think, should be higher. That’s where I think a lot of Americans, that used to send horses up to me, don’t come up anymore because all the big money’s in Kentucky and the purses are so strong there that even if you take into consideration the Canadian dollar and you’re training in Canadian dollars, it’s pretty hard to have an American-bred - that’s decent - break it’s maiden and only get $30,000 or there-abouts Canadian, when they’re running for over $100,000 and something American. It’s tough. So, I think we really need a purse increase at Woodbine. I definitely think a purse increase would boost everybody’s spirits a bit.”

The fact that the horse racing business is becoming an increasingly tough pursuit is a surprise to nobody.  Earlier this week came confirmation that Martin Drexler, who finished second in wins at Woodbine last year, with $4,051,184 in earnings, is stepping back from the sport, despite a successful campaign at Gulfstream Park this winter. Minshall said in Canada, especially, it is getting tougher to stay on the positive side of the ledger. For one thing, there are more business incentives and write-offs that American owners can take advantage of.

“Not to mention the whole tax situation with horses up here,” said Minshall. “The way we’re taxed to death.

“But don’t want to get me on that whole thing,” the veteran trainer added. “In the U.S. you can write off a huge amount of loss against a business. And that needs to be addressed.”

Minshall said while the prices of owning and racing horses has gone up dramatically, purses haven’t kept pace. And that makes it difficult, especially for Canadian horse people.

“I’ve been at the sales here in Ocala.  I mean, the prices. There’s still a lot of money out there and people are still buying horses,” said Minshall. “But we’ve got to try to get some of those horses to come back up north.”

Despite the fact that the horse racing is going through some difficult times, Minshall still loves the sport dearly and is excited about the upcoming season at Woodbine, with opening day just around the corner on April 18. One reason for her optimism is the fact that she saddled a number of very promising two-year-olds in 2025 and is hoping that a few of them shine as three-year-olds this year.

“I’m always cautiously optimistic,” said Minshall, who started three horses in 2025 that won stakes – two-year-olds Reload Raleigh (Frost King Stakes) and Border Czar (My Dear Stakes) and three-year-old Sedburys Ghost (Plate Trial Stakes), though Minshall sold the Kentucky-bred Border Czar shortly after the filly’s stakes score last July.

“Sedburys Ghost is four now, so he’s in a different ball game,” said Minshall of her prized chestnut gelding. “I’d hoped he’d win that last stake (Lake Ontario Stakes), but just was a little flat. But he’s wintered well and we’ll see where he fits. As a four-year-old, he’s going to have to step forward a bit to be competitive. But he’s in good order and had a good winter.

“I thought he needed just a few months of ‘don’t touch me’”, Minshall added, with a laugh. “He was in South Carolina as a two-year-old and he basically had no break from his two-year-old (campaign) to the very end of his three-year-old year. He trained hard that whole time. So, he needed a bit of a physical and mental break.”

Minshall is known for her success developing two-year-olds and last year was no exception. Reload Raleigh, owned by Kevin Drew and bred by Jon Hyka, won two races in four starts (was second in the Clarendon Stakes) at Woodbine in 2025, earning $92,730. Gone With Duwyn, a bay gelding owned and bred by Hoolie Racing Stable LLC, captured two races and was placed in another in six starts. Also as a two-year-old last season, Yawen Wu-owned and bred filly Hurricane Amelia showed promise in three starts.

“I like her a lot (but) her last start she got cut in a race really bad,” said Minshall, who began training at Woodbine in 1995 and enjoyed an incredible season the very next year – becoming the first woman to train a winner of a Canadian Triple Crown race (Kiridashi capturing the Prince of Wales Stakes) and followed that up by being awarded the Sovereign Award as outstanding Canadian trainer. “(Hurricane Amelia) is all healed up now and she’s back training, she’s at Woodbine. But the cut took a long time to heal up. She must have gotten stepped-on in the race, she was cut quite badly. But she’s a nice filly. I think she’s got a lot of up-side.”

“I think they’re all pretty good,” added Minshall, of her graduating class of two-year-olds. “Amelia’s behind the other two because she just sort of started training. But the other two (Reload Raleigh and Gone With Duwyn) I think have a lot of up-side. They’re both Ontario-sired. I think Reload Raleigh will stretch out. He was kind of in a fast pace in his last start, but he’s very rateable. I have lots of hope for him. Gone With Duwyn is more of a sprinter and we’ll keep him probably at that.”

“And I have a few unraced three-year-olds that might come around that just didn’t get to the races last year,” added Minshall, who also has close to 15 two-year-olds in her stable this season.

“The two-year-olds keep us in business, they keep our hopes up,” the Montreal native said. “I do own a lot of my own horses these days and I think if I didn’t own those horses, it would be harder for me to break even. That’s why I got into running more of my own horses, because if you do win, you win 100% of the pot and that helps keep you going. I got that one filly, Fortyfiveseventy. She got hurt earlier in the year, but I paid $4,000 for her and she’s won $350,000 and that pays a lot of bills.

“And I’m always looking for someone to send me a good horse and I still have a few horses coming up from the Hoolie Stables,” Minshall added. “They are still in it pretty big. They run mostly in the States, but I’ve got a few horses coming up from them that hopefully are really good."

Minshall, who spends the winter months winding down at her home in Ocala thanks to the good work of her staff back home, including assistant trainer Chad Elder, will be back at Woodbine in April and is excited about what the 2026 campaign may bring.

“I try not to over-worry about what’s going on (in the industry) as long as I can do it, I’ll do it,” she said.

While Minshall hasn’t set any particular goals for this year, there is a number that has captured her eye. With 462 wins, she is just 38 victories away from the coveted 500-win mark as a trainer.

“I did notice that when I was looking a horse up the other day,” said Minshall. “It’s taken me a long time to get there. I didn’t start training as an 18-year-old - I was into a lot of other stuff for a long time - so I didn’t start training until ’94. And I’ve never had more than 40 horses in my barn. And the first years after Minshall Farms was sold and I kind of went public, I had like no horses because all our horses were sold with the farm. There were some really lean years there. But, yeah, hopefully I’ll get there (to 500).

“Maybe I’ll try to get there this year,” she added, with a laugh. “I’d have to be pretty aggressive and push, but you never know. (In the end), I’m more about what you win (graded stakes) than how many you win. But we’ll make a try of it.”