Bowen's Minter back in the winners' stall in style

By Jordan Gerrans

Renowned horseman Philip Minter broke an almost decade long drought of victories on Friday afternoon at Cluden Park.

Minter was a top trainer in decades gone by on the Northern Rivers of NSW, winning city races in Brisbane and Sydney, as well as starting gallopers from his team in a couple of Group 1 events.

He was a consistent winner at tracks such as Grafton, Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie.

Fast forward to late 2023 and Minter is preparing a small team of a few horses in North Queensland, based out of Bowen.

He relocated to the Whitsunday region of the Sunshine State for family reasons.

Minter prepared his first winner since the 2014-15 season on Friday at Cluden Park.

Mare Tara Jasmine provided the returning trainer the timely victory.

It was her first start in the area after transferring north from the John Shelton barn.

In a small field over the sprint trip, the six-year-old came from back in the field under the urgings of hoop Adrian Layt to score by half-a-length in Open Handicap grade.

Tara Jasmine contested city Brisbane races and the time-honoured Ramornie Handicap at Grafton earlier this year before heading to her new venture in NQ.

The 62-year-old Minter picked up the now nine-time career winner from connections that he trained for earlier in his career.

“The people that own the mare were clients of mine in NSW and I trained for them for a lot of years,” the trainer said.

“They wanted me to take her on and get a couple of more wins out of her because she was weighted out of races in the Benchmark system in NSW.

“Up here she can go into Open Handicap's, which brings her down considerably in weight.”

Tara Jasmine came out of the machine around five lengths behind the field on Friday.

She went around the entire field on the home turn and picked them up comfortably.

“I thought if she was well enough in herself, she would prove really hard to beat in that company,” Minter said.

“The 1000 metres was a little short for her and she had not raced for a bit.

“With the trip up, she had a freshen up and it enabled her to sprint a little bit better over the 1000 metres.”

Set to turn 63 later this year, Minter still rides all his own track work.

That is one of the reasons why he did not start a galloper from his stable between the 2016-17 and 2019-20 seasons.

The seasoned horseman had to undergo a full knee replacement and while he was unable to ride, he took a step back from preparing his own team.

“I am up and firing now, riding my own work,” he said.

“I am going good. I have never stopped riding horses, I am a keen camp drafting competitor and still break-in a few horses.”

Minter won a Listed Christmas Cup in 2001 with a galloper named Silent Impact at Rosehill.

He has a team of three in work at Bowen.

The veteran trainer will remain in NQ for the remainder of the year before relocating to Dalby.

As well as training his own team of thoroughbreds, Minter has enjoyed a lengthy and diverse career.

He was an apprentice hoop on the Northern Rivers as a young fella before weight got the best of him.

He once held a trainers and drivers licence in the harness code. He has also travelled the world riding in rodeos.