As a 9-year-old in 2019, English Minister crafted a four-race winning streak culminating in the Find Stakes at Laurel Park. Five years later under Western tack with glitter in his mane, he and 12-year-old Annie Sirolli competed at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds as part of the victorious Carver County 4-H Compulsory Drill Team.
All thanks to Becky Davis.
"I had him right off the track for a couple years and fell in love with him," Davis said. "But I thought he might suit my niece. I also nicknamed him Benny, and that is what they call him. It would throw her for a loop if you asked her about English Minister."
Davis' sister, Margaret Sirolli -- both are daughters of renowned Maryland veterinarian and breeder Dr. Tom Bowman and his wife Chris -- joked that she prefers not to tell people the horse is a stakes winner of eight races and $551,246.
"Honestly I purposely don't say his official name because I don't really want people looking him up and finding out he was a decent racehorse," she said. "I like the allure of not really knowing what his background is out here. Truly, I don't even know if our girls know his full background."
For starters, English Minister is a transplanted Maryland boy. Bred by Robert Meyerhoff's Fitzhugh program, the son of English Channel and the Deputy Minister mare Groovy Minister began his career for trainer Dickie Small as a 2-year-old Aug. 12, 2012, and finished seventh of nine going a mile on the dirt at Monmouth Park. Two starts later, he won on the turf at Laurel. As a 3-year-old, the chestnut lost all nine starts but tried stakes company three times including a fourth in the James W. Murphy on the day Oxbow won the Preakness Stakes-G1 at Pimlico.
Small died of cancer April 4, 2014, and six days later English Minister made his only start of the year -- for Small's assistant Dylan Smith. "A lot of the horses went back to farms to just chill out and have owners figure out what to do," Davis said.
English Minister eventually went to trainer Mike Trombetta, but spent more than a year away from the races. He made nine starts in 2015, and halted a 15-race losing streak with back-to-back allowance triumphs at Saratoga. He lost his next 17 starts, but finished second four times including in the 2016 Find and 2017 Mister Diz Stakes (missing in both by a neck).
As a 7-year-old in October 2017, he won a tough optional claimer at 6 furlongs on the turf at Belmont Park but lost all nine tries in 2018 (although he was less than a length back in third in the Ben's Cat Stakes). His 9-year-old campaign made up for lost time as he put together those four wins -- two at Presque Isle Downs and two at Laurel, capped by the Find in September.
Meyerhoff wound down decades of racing/breeding success for good in 2020, and at 10 English Minister was an ideal candidate for a new role. Meyerhoff reached out to Tom Bowman, a long-time friend and advisor, who assisted in the dispersal of the Fitzhugh horses. Younger horses were sold in training, some fillies as broodmare prospects. But when Trombetta told Bowman that English Minister was "so cool and gentle he would put his own kids on him," a light went on.
"My dad called to see if I wanted to take him and see how he suited my daughter Allison as a possible future pony-club mount," Davis said. "The next day I took a two-horse trailer to Fair Hill and decided if he loaded up easily onto a small trailer he was unfamiliar with, then he was meant to go home with me."
Davis arrived to no barn help and a note letting her know which stall English Minister was in. He walked right into the trailer and stood loose while Davis saw to the tail bar and ramp before driving home. On the farm, Davis and her daughter rode English Minister casually with no specific goal.
"He was so easy and mild-mannered, no off-track training was focused on him, and I learned how important that is when I attempted to take him to the hunt field," Davis said. "Benny gently let me know that what I was doing wasn't going to work, so we walked back home, had a carrot and a pat, and decided we both needed more experienced partners."
Horse and rider bonded nonetheless, and Davis was happy to have the gelding as a babysitter and enjoying carrots and sweet potatoes. No harm, no foul, and the promise to Meyerhoff was fulfilled.
In 2015 Sirolli, husband Ryan and daughters Lucy and Annie relocated to Mayer, Minn., about an hour west of the Twin Cities.
"It's a very rural area; we live on a dirt road. My husband works for Cargill, so we've moved around a bunch for both our careers," Sirolli said. "A large part of it, especially where we are, is Western riding."
The Sirollis met at Virginia Tech when Margaret was in veterinary school and Ryan in graduate school. A native of the York, Pa., area, Ryan learned to ride with friends and eventually got into foxhunting. They bought a 10-acre farm in Mayer. Ryan enjoyed riding with their daughters, who quickly became involved in the local 4-H. Through friends in Pennsylvania, they found a mount for Ryan, a Paint/Quarter Horse for older daughter Lucy, and a Haflinger pony for Annie.
The shoes came off that plan when Ryan's mare turned out to be "a fruit loop," and the Haflinger pony couldn't endure the cold weather. The family went to extreme measures to help the pony get through the winter, but drove her back to Pennsylvania in the spring.
Back to square one, the family again needed two horses.
“The girls were in costume
and the theme was trolls,
so Annie was in this funny
little outfit and he had glitter all over him.”
– Margaret Sirolli,
on English Minister’s new job
"Becky said Benny was not getting ridden much and needed a job," Margaret said. "And that was my dad's thinking too, that Benny would be a really good fit for Ryan."
During summer 2023, Margaret, Ryan and their daughters traveled home to Maryland.
"My nieces wanted to know if I had anything they could hop on," Davis said. "Allison gave a little instruction since her cousins were more used to Western riding, and Benny was a perfect gentleman. In the meantime, my brother-in-law was eyeing him up and talking about what a good size he was.
A few months later Ryan and I came up with a plan to send him to a local trainer to have him started out on trails. If Benny handled it OK, we would send him to Minnesota."
English Minister spent a month with Justin Lee in Smyrna, Del., in Western tack, hacking through local parks, crossing streams and otherwise learning about his potential new job.
In October 2023, Davis shipped English Minister to Kentucky. Ryan and Annie made the 13-hour drive to pick him up and headed back to Minnesota with what was supposed to be Ryan's horse. They figured they'd find one for Annie by spring 2024.
"We never found anything," Margaret said. "It got to be the beginning of the summer. The girls had competed the year before in the 4-H drill team, which is kind of like synchronized swimming on horseback. They had a chance to go to a 4-H horse boot camp in June and we still didn't have a horse for Annie. She took a couple lessons on Benny and then took him to the boot camp."
Over three days, they worked with instructors on barrels, pole weaving, keyhole, showmanship, equitation and drill team.
At 16.3, English Minister towered over the competition but was indeed made for Annie, tall for her age at 5-foot-8. Margaret enjoys the reactions of other riders, and one day overheard a teenage girl ask her friend, "Is that a giraffe?"
No, just an ex-racehorse.
Annie and her new mount spent the summer of 2024 at various shows and 4-H events. English Minister met each new challenge like a professional, proving especially useful and suited to drill team. When Carver County 4-H qualified for the Minnesota State Show, he and Annie made the compulsory team.
"The girls were in costume and the theme was trolls, so Annie was in this funny little outfit and he had glitter all over him," Margaret said. "The team came in first place."
If English Minister misses his racing days back east, the 15-year-old doesn't let on, though he made the most of a chance to show off during a family camping trip last fall.
"One of the state parks around here has a really nice long stretch of grass rolling along a road," said Ryan. "He was in the best shape he's been in since he's been here. I wanted to see what he would do so I let him stretch out. I've ridden some fast horses in my life, but I've never experienced anything like that before. My kids are pretty competitive to put it mildly, but they couldn't keep up. They just couldn't -- it was awesome."
