Trainer Donald Barr passes
Veteran conditioner was 85
Frank Vespe
August 2, 2026
Donald Barr, an outspoken but friendly New Englander who fashioned a lengthy training career in Maryland, died Aug. 2. He was 85.
He had been diagnosed with leukemia in January, his second cancer diagnosis, said his longtime partner, the veterinarian Carol Swandby. In 2018 he had fought off prostate cancer, a grueling battle that included surgery and dozens of radiation treatments.
A native of Westborough, Massachusetts, Barr’s racing career took him from the training centers of South Carolina to the hardscrabble backstretches of New England before he landed in Maryland; and his training career touched all or parts of six decades.
This article contains affiliate links. If you click and buy, we may earn a commission at no extra charge to you.
Pick up reliable and rewarding tickets for major events!
He was especially known for his work with younger horses, and one of those he helped develop – and briefly trained — may have been the best he had his hands on.
Barr advised owner Barbara Houck to purchase a Curlin filly at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale in Timonium, which she did for $86,000. That filly, Stellar Wind, began her career in Barr’s Laurel Park barn, winning at second asking by 8 ¾ lengths.
Houck fielded offers after that, including one from bloodstock agent David Ingordo on behalf of Hronis Racing LLC that “she couldn’t refuse,” Barr said later. Stellar Wind went on to make $2.9 million on the racetrack and then sell as a broodmare prospect for $6 million. She won the 2015 Eclipse Award as champion three-year-old filly.
“Bringing young horses along is what I do,” Barr said after the sale, and after Stellar Wind had won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks. “This was a sale where everyone was happy – everyone’s a winner with this horse.”
Barr scored with his first official starter, when Naskrahoney won the Scarlet Carnation Stakes at Thistledown on July 29, 1979. He earned his first win in Maryland the following May at Pimlico. Barr’s final career victory came January 23 of this year when Breezing Up won a claiming race.
In all, his runners posted 847 wins with total purse earnings of more than $19.4 million. He had his best year in 1997, when his runners visited the winners circle 49 times and registered more than $1.2 million in purse earnings.
His richest runner was the multiple graded stakes winner Ravalo. Racing in the colors of Lindy M. Redding, the Mutakddim gelding won 18 races and earned over $1.3 million. Barr was the trainer of record for all but one of those wins and for more than $1.1 million in earnings.
Ravalo also won a pair of Grade 3 events, the 2009 Maryland Sprint Handicap and the 2010 Kennedy Road Stakes at Woodbine.
Barr’s other graded stakes wins came with Who Wouldn’t, winner of the 1995 Grade 2 General George; G. O’Keefe in the 1997 Grade 3 Anne Arundel; and Merengue in that same event the following year.
Barr’s three Maryland Million winners were It’s a Bang (2013 Nursery), The Ruler’s Sister (1996 Oaks), and Sweet Bunny (1991 Starter Handicap).
“These days do get your blood pressure up, to say it mildly,” Barr said after It’s a Bang’s Nursery win. “There’s a lot of pressure on you to perform well with the horses you run. This day and Preakness day are always a little unnerving.”
But, he added, “I’m kinda proud of participating.”
Other top horses trained by Barr included the multiple stakes winners Richie the Coach, Purple Passion, and Smashing Beau, each of whom topped $300,000 in earnings under Barr’s tutelage.
Introduced to racing at Rhode Island’s Lincoln Downs while working at a restaurant, Barr soon decided the racetrack was where he belonged.
“I always liked animals and sports,” he told the Maryland Horse in 2011. “It was either become a coach or a horseman.”
Beyond the track, he also served on the boards of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and the Maryland Horsemen’s Assistance Fund, as well as the Maryland Horse Breeders Association.
In those roles he was an unabashed advocate for improving conditions for the state’s breeding industry, including promoting enhanced Maryland-bred bonuses and a more robust restricted racing program.
“My nose is always out of joint and many times I’m sticking it where it doesn’t belong,” he told the Maryland Horse in 2015. “My reputation is as a goofy bastard who doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
He and Swandby lived at Gray Swan Farm, near New Market, where Swandby cares for layups.
“He was an excellent horseman,” she said fondly, “but he was a stubborn son of a gun.”
In addition to Swandby, Barr is survived by his children, Donald Barr, Jr. and Patricia Lang, grandchildren and a great-grandson.
Arrangements are private.
Pick up reliable and rewarding tickets for major events!
LATEST NEWS
