Shelley Ann Brown
A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at 3:00 p.m., at Assiniboia Downs, 3975 Portage Ave, Second Level Terrace Dining Room.
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Shelley Brown: A True Horseperson’s Farewell
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| Trainer Shelley Brown with her 2-year-old champion Cash Or Card in 2019. (Jason Halstead / Assiniboia Photo) |
| Earlier this 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. |
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| Shelley Brown became the first female trainer in Assiniboia Downs history to win the leading trainer title outright in 2012. (Jason Halstead / Assiniboia Photo) |
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| 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. |
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| 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 the 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. |
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| Real Grace holds on to win the 2020 Canadian Derby (G3) at 18-1. (Coady Photo) |
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| 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. |
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| Shelley Brown. Smiling in the face of adversity. (Jason Halstead / Assiniboia Photo) |
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It is with great sadness we pass along the unfortunate news that Trainer Shelley Brown has passed away.
A lover of all things horse from a young age, Shelley was no stranger to horses or racing when she decided to make a trip from Regina to Winnipeg to watch a few races. Reflecting on that trip she later joked it was almost the trip that didn’t happen. Having issues with her truck less than half way into her trip she could have turned around and headed home, but she ended up at Assiniboia Downs.
Paving her own way, in 2009 Shelley brought a handful of horses back to Winnipeg and started her training career at Assiniboia Downs and never looked back. Proving that hard work will get you everywhere, in 2012 Shelley wrote her own page in the ASD history books as she became the first woman to win the leading trainer title. She became an inspiration to so many, a position she never asked for but wore proudly.
Shelley continued to mentor, coach, teach and advise in her racing career and in the horse community leaving a sea of better riders, competitors, future trainers, and grooms behind her.
To know Shelley was to truly know determination, and grit. If she put her mind to something it was going to happen. She proved this over and over and yet again when she received the diagnosis that her fatigue was more than just the late season lack of sleep setting in.
As Real Grace stepped into the starting gate in the Grade 3 Canadian Derby with the odds stacked against him, Shelley watched from a hospital bed with the odds not in her favor either. Real Grace won that day, Shelley found her fight and was determined this was not how her story was going to end, and it didn’t.
Shelley rode through life jumping obstacles, and navigating a course she designed with beauty, class and determination. In the end she let go of the reins and trusted her horse to take her across the finish line and lead her home. She did it her way.
On behalf of the HBPA Board of Directors and the Membership we represent, we would like to offer our sincere and heartfelt condolences to Shelley’s family and friends. We hope you find comfort in the memories and stories shared. May Shelley’s memory live on in every life she has touched.
Manitoba HBPA
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