Earlier last week, trainer Shelley Brown crossed her final finish line, but her legacy will reverberate through the grandstand and backstretch forever. At 52, the trailblazing trainer who became the first woman to lead the trainer standings outright at Assiniboia Downs has run her final furlong, leaving behind a stable of memories and a community in mourning.
A Saskatchewan girl, Shelley fell in love with horses thanks to her parents’ trips to the track. At 19, she packed her bags and headed to Alberta to work as a groom, learning everything from the ground up in the stalls. She was a natural.
In 2009, Shelley took the plunge and began training on her own. Starting out small with just six horses, word of her talent spread quickly. Owners saw how their horses thrived under her care, and soon her stable had grown to 45.
Shelley made history in 2012 when she became the first woman to win the leading trainer title at Assiniboia Downs. It wasn’t easy in a male-dominated sport, but Shelley’s dedication paid off. Her days began at 3 a.m., and on race nights, she stayed until midnight, ensuring every horse was settled and content.
Shelley’s horses made 2,656 starts, with 409 wins, 416 second-place finishes, and 423 third-place finishes, earning US$4,303,425. Her top earner, multiple champion mare Golden Stripe, banked $231,078, while stakes winners and champions like Cash Or Card, Can’t Use Nellie, Stevie Mac, and most recently McEwen made their marks too, but it was a horse named Real Grace that proved to be more than just a winner for Shelley.
Real Grace gave Shelley her biggest win when he took the Grade 3 Canadian Derby on September 27, 2020 — a victory that came when Shelley needed it most. Earlier that month, she had received devastating news: Stage 4 cancer. What she thought was a shoulder injury turned out to be a life-threatening diagnosis. The doctors gave her only months to live.
But Shelley wasn’t ready to give up. As she started her fight, Real Grace was preparing for the Canadian Derby. Unable to attend, Shelley watched from her hospital bed as Real Grace went to the front at 18-1 and never looked back, holding on gamely in the stretch to win by a neck. For Shelley, the win wasn’t just a victory on the track; it was a reminder to keep fighting.
“That Derby race was a huge contributor for me to dig in and keep going. He dug in, and so have I,” she later said, as reported by Curtis Stock in Canadian Thoroughbred.
Shelley tried everything to beat the cancer — chemo, alternative treatments, special diets — anything she could find, but her best medicine was her attitude. “Attitude will get you more than medicine,” she said.
Even when she was sick, Shelley kept showing up. In the end, she faced her battle the same way she trained her horses—with grit and grace. She didn’t go down without a fight.
Shelley didn’t just win races; she won the respect and love of an entire racing community.
For those of us left in the grandstand of life, her story is a reminder of what it means to be a true horseperson. It’s about early mornings, late nights, knowing when to push, and when to ease up. But most of all, it’s about loving the horses through thick and thin, as Shelley did from the start of her career…
To her final photo finish.
Note: A Celebration of Life will be held for Shelley on Wednesday, October 16 at 3:00 p.m. in the Terrace Dining Room at Assiniboia Downs.
