Of those who have been in the first tranche of Heritage Family inductees the Shinn family is the one whose initial victory was more than a century ago – Hubert Shinn winning with Captain Harold on March 12 1923. Trainers were first listed in Melbourne racebooks in 1931/32 and although Hubert never won a training ttile he finished in the Top Five for the first eleven seasons that statistics were collated.

Hubert Shinn, who was the son of William Shinn (originally named Shin) and Sarah Maude Ah Poo, commenced his career on the track in New South Wales before travelling around winning races in Tasmania, Queensland before settling permanently at Ascot Vale in 1932. Hubert Shinn finished top five in the Melbourne Drivers Premiership for eleven successive seasons, snagging a Premiership win in 1933/34.

Three of Hubert’s sons were prominent horsemen most notably Bill who became a household name in South Australia and actually claimed a Top Five finish in the Mebourne Drivers Premiership and the Metropolitan Trainers Premiership despite being based in South Australia. Of the other two sons Frank and Reg, Frank managed one Top Five Melbourne Drivers credit and was the recipient of a Distinguished Service Medal.

Bill Shinn was a legend in South Australia driving 332 winners on the Wayville saucer while his son Brian won five races there. Reg also won in Adelaide (32 wins) while at Harold Park, three of the clan won races – Hubert (one win), Bill (5 wins) and Frank (17 wins).

Frank Shinn was the father of Gerald Shinn, who started off in the thoroughbred world winning the 1970/71 Sydney apprentices premiership before weight caught up with him and then tried his hand at harness racing registering several wins at Moonee Valley as a driver and trainer. He then tried his hand at training gallopers and even lowered his weight enough to resume riding in 1996 for five years. Gerald’s son Blake has won a Melbourne Cup (Viewed) and stunned the thoroughbred world in 2025 by becoming the first jockey to win the Melbourne and Sydney premierships in the same season.

Hubert Shinn’s other son that excelled was Reg who won races at Richmond, Ascot and the Showgrounds and trained in S.A. and Tasmania before moving to Kilmore in 1960s. His son Noel along with Reg’s brothers Frank and Bill managed a family triella with their hometown Kilmore Cup – 1968 Scottish Fusilier (Trainer: Reg; Driver: Bill), 1972 Free Vance (Trainer: Frank; Driver: Noel) and 1999 Colbruce (Trainer/driver: Noel).

Noel Shinn married Ruth Evans who despite her acumen in the sulky unfortunately existed in the era where women were restricted solely to competing in trials and gymkhanas, an arena where Ruth was very successful. Noel has finished in the Top Five in Metropolitan Trainers Premiership (1987/88) and also the Metropolitan Drivers Premiership (1976/77) and since Ruth took over the training of the stable in 2000 she has registered 88 Melbourne winners to August 31 2025. The couple’s children Christopher and Jessie have both driven Melbourne winners.

CLICK HERE for a list, in chronological order, or every winner the Shinn name has been associated with as a driver and trainer up to and including August 31, 2025. The totals are.

558 DRIVING VICTORIES – 512 TRAINING VICTORIES