Spotlight On: Philip Minter

By Brodie Nickson

Veteran horseman Philip Minter loves what he does and is hoping to enjoy more success as he continues improving his small stable.

Philip Minter, 64, has more than 40 years of training experience and has completed almost every role available at a stable.

Minter rides all his own work, shoes his own horses and prefers to do everything he can to enhance his understanding of each runner in his stable.

His love of horses and horsemanship has been a massive part of his life since he was a kid.

Minter was brought up on a large cattle property in North Queensland, Strathalbyn Station, which his father, Cliff, ran for 16 years.

“I went to the races at Eyre one day, saw a jockey get legged aboard and said, ‘I am going to be a jockey’,” he said.

Minter rode until he got too heavy, so decided to make the switch to start training in his late 20s.

“I had started riding and breaking in horses in Maitland, then joined trainer Arthur Thompson at Cessnock. I learnt the most about how to train off Arthur,” Minter said.

Minter trained in New South Wales for approximately 30 years, starting as Cessnock and then Coffs Harbour.

He enjoyed good success including two Listed victories in Sydney, Silent Impact won the 2001 Christmas Cup and Famous Dane won the 2005 Services’ Memorial Cup.

Minter was also a consistent traveller of his horses, winning metropolitan races in Sydney and Brisbane.

He took six years off from training to care for his elderly mother, Beryl, and alongside his wife, Beth, decided to make the move to Dalby permanent, where Beth has family.

He usually has eight horses in work and can have up to 10 at a time.

Although there would be some temptation to increase numbers, Minter couldn’t continue his routine with any more numbers.

“I can have up to 10 (in work), I can handle that but it’s a pretty big workload because I do pretty much everything myself. I shoe all my own and do the lot,” he said.

“A bit of (saving money on bills) but mainly I am a bit hard to please.”

Although he doesn’t have many young horses, Minter doesn’t purchase many himself. He relies on the support of loyal owners he has trained for for years.

“I don’t buy tried horses, the people I train for are the people I trained for in Coffs Harbour years ago,” Minter said.

“When I gave training away they gave (their horses) to other trainers then, when I was getting back in, they were good enough to send me horses again.”

Minter is proven to improve tried horses and says patience is vital in getting to understand each horse and how he can get the best out of them.

“I give my horses a slow prep to get them ready,” Minter said.

“I don’t rush them. I try to figure them out already before I take them to the races.

“(The) biggest thing for my success is I ride all my own trackwork so I have a good understanding of the horse by the time I take them to the races.”

Since arriving in Queensland Minter has also had to slightly change his training routine and how much work he can put into each horse.

“We don’t have the gallop tracks that a lot of other places have. We have to top up our workload with a lot of swimming and stuff,” he said.

“Tracks get a bit hard and things like that, you just adapt to where you are.”

An example of the impressive changes Minter has been able to achieve with tried horses is his form reversal and reinvigoration of six-year-old Huss On First.

Huss On First started her career with a bit of a boom with Brisbane trainers Steven O’Dea and Matthew Hoysted.

She won impressively on debut at Doomben and produced a monstrous run at Eagle Farm at her second start.

Huss On First only had one more start in Brisbane before being purchased by the Cahill family in 2023.

“She had been to Grafton to a couple of trainers,” Minter said.

“Her last prep before she came to me… she had a lot of feet problems.

“The owners spelled her and the Cahill family said [as a] last resort - see if you can do something with her.

“I was confident I could. I spoke to the owners and told them, ‘if you give me a crack at her I think I can turn her around a bit’.”

The six-year-old joined Minter midway through 2024 and immediately found her best form, winning a Class 2 at Warwick at her second start for the team.

She went on to win another two races in her first preparation for Minter, rising to 1350m to bolt in her latest at Warwick.

“(She is) very difficult to ride and get worked. We are working each other out and she is starting to accept my way of training a little bit,” Minter said.

“Mainly out of the fact I ride her myself. I have done a lot of breaking in and handling problem horses - I can handle a problem horse and sort their ways out a bit.”

Minter doesn’t set goals but has his routine, which has paved his success for more than 30 years and still follows it today.

“I think you can be a trainer, but you also need to be a horseman,” Minter said.

“I try to keep a horse in its grade and try not to get them out of their grade too often.

“I think if you keep them around what their grade is and if they’ve got some ability they are going to come through.

“I don’t set any goals and just want to do a good job at what I am doing. I love the game and just want to be as successful as I can.”

Minter paid tribute his mother and wife as ‘probably being my biggest supporters’ throughout his years of success, which he says shows no sign of slowing.

“I am 64 and not slowing down. love it.”