$100,000 CTHS Alberta Two Year Old Sale Stake Re-named in Honor of Roy Shellnutt
The $100,000 CTHS Alberta Sales Stake for Two Year Olds has been re-named the $100,000 Roy Shellnutt Memorial CTHS Alberta Sales Stake in honour of long time Alberta Thoroughbred owner, trainer and breeder Roy Shellnutt who sadly passed away earlier this summer.
Roy was raised in an eastern Ontario farming community and his family was involved in the breeding and marketing of horses. His father trained Standardbreds and as a younger boy, Roy rode ponies and showed quarter horses. After starting his career as a police offer, Roy went on to law school and spent his professional life working as a defense lawyer. His true passion remained horses however and for the past forty years, Roy had been involved in all aspects of the horse industry especially in racing. He was licensed as an owner, trainer and racing official over the years and was most recently a valued director on the board of the CTHS Alberta from 2018 to this year.
Roy was a multiple stakes winning trainer from 1991 through 2005 with over $225,000 in career earnings from 138 starts mainly at Stampede Park and Northlands Park. His top horses included the Alberta bred multiple stakes winning CTHS Alberta sale graduate, Client Development, winner of the Debutante Stakes at Stampede Park and the Junior Miss Handicap at Northlands Park. Roy was also the trainer and owner of Alberta bred CTHS Sale graduate, Dreamin of Dancin, bred by Jack Johnston. This mare won the 1995 Sturgeon River Stakes at Stampede Park and the 1996 Alberta Oaks at Northlands Park. Horses owned by Roy were often recognizable by the recurring ‘legal’ theme in their names such as This Crime Pays, Crime After Crime, Crime Is Up and Proceeds of Crime.
A homebred gelding by Mint named Criminally Minted, out of his stakes winner, Client Development, became Roy’s personal riding horse and dressage mount for the past fifteen years. Roy rode with a dressage coach from Saskatchewan and under the tutelage of long-time friends Linda and Jack Johnston. Roy developed a keen interest in dressage which led him to take three trips to Europe over the past decade to fulfill his dreams of riding Lusitano horses at the highest level of the sport.
Roy will be greatly missed by his many friends and acquaintances in the Alberta Thoroughbred industry.
The 2022 CTHS Alberta Roy Shellnutt Memorial CTHS Alberta Sale Stake has a post time of 5:45 p.m. this Saturday, October 8th at Century Mile Racetrack and Casino.
Share
