Smiling, joking and always personable, NATHAN SQUIRES was a popular fellow on the Woodbine backstretch. It was not just his personality that made him stand out, but his keen eye for selecting a winning horse at a horse sale. Squires always had a small stable of horses since he started training in 2005, but he made the most of his small numbers.
In the last four years, Squires’ profile grew, thanks to a filly named Cairo Consort. And 2025 was his best season for purse earnings.
Sadly, Squires was also battling cancer for the last couple of years and on September 23 he passed away at the age of 62.
Family and friends gathered at his barn 31 to remember the Barbados-born man.
Squires bought Cairo Consort (Cairo Prince – Absolutely Awesome by Street Cry (Ire) for $95,000 for longtime client William Thompson Jr. at the Fasig-Tipton October sale in 2021. She won the Catch a Glimpse Stakes as a two-year-old and went to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly Turf (G1) that year at Keeneland.
She finished a super third in the Breeders’ Cup and was voted Canada’s Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. Cairo Consort was sold by Thompson soon after, but Squires continued to replenish his stable.
The Squires horses earned over $500,000 in 2025, his biggest total of his career. His top horses last year included the graded stakes-placed Wagstaff, Bound to Be True, and That Girl Artemus, all who combined to win 15 races for his barn.
Katie Larsen, founder of Southern Belle Thoroughbreds, wrote a dedication to Squires on Facebook:
“I’ll never forget the laughs that Nathan brought to my life. He was the life of the party and never failed to bring up the fact that he was better looking than his sons, and much more in shape! To the man who let me breeze his stake horses on the track when I had zero experience and always went way too fast…. Your infectious smile and sense of humour will be greatly missed.”
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