Career
Starr began his career in Thoroughbred racing as a jockey"s agent, representing prominent jockeys such as Frank Mann, Pat Remillard, Red Pollard, and George Seabo. At the same time, in an unofficial capacity Starr became involved in the conditioning of horses. Yonnie Starr earned his first Canadian Horse of the Year honors in 1955 with Ace Marine, a colt whose wins included the three races that four years later were officially designated as the Canadian Triple Crown series.
Seven of the horses he trained were inducted in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame with one of them also elected to the United States. United States Racing Hall of Fame.
Although Starr trained horses of both sexes, he was recognized as someone who also had a special talent to develop fillies. During his career he trained horses with great success for prominent owners such as Conn Smythe and Larkin Maloney, both individually and for the Smythe/Maloney racing partnersip.
In the 1970s and 1980s Starr continued as a dominant force in Canadian racing as the trainer for Quebec sportsman, Jean-Louis Levesque. Yonnie Starr trained horses until his death in Florida in March 1990 at age eighty-four.
At the time, he had been racing for the winter season at Gulfstream Park.
