John Shirreffs, who steered Zenyatta to a Corridor of Fame profession and gained the 2005 Kentucky Derby with Giacomo, died in his sleep on February 12 at his residence in Arcadia, California. He handed away on the age of 80.
“The business misplaced an excellent man at this time, and I misplaced buddy,” mentioned Corridor of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who rode these horses to a few of their most memorable victories.
Identified for his persistence and particular person consideration to his horses, Shirreffs not solely gained the Derby with Giacomo, but additionally gained the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Basic with Zenyatta, making his mark on a few of thoroughbred horse racing’s biggest occasions. He additionally gained that yr’s Breeders’ Cup Girls Basic with Life is Candy, a race he had gained the earlier yr with Zenyatta.
He skilled each Giacomo and Zenyatta for Jerry and Anne Moss. Giacomo was additionally half proprietor of Stronach Stables late in his profession.
With super success, together with his horses successful 596 races and incomes greater than $58 million in purses, Shirreffs was typically probably the most revered for his horsemanship. He skilled a medium-sized secure at Santa Anita Park and labored intently with the animals below his care, as did his spouse, Dottie Ingold Shirreffs.
“I believe kindness is an enormous key with horses,” Shirreffs informed BloodHorse earlier this winter. “I believe it is good to speak to horses. I at all times ask athletic jockeys, stablemen and scorching walkers to speak to them. Horses are at all times attempting to study from their setting. The extra they’ll work together with their setting, the extra profitable they are going to be and the happier their expertise will likely be.”
“He put the horse first. If he did not consider within the horse, he could not make the horse do one thing it did not need to do,” mentioned David Ingold, Dottie’s son and one among racing’s high pedigree brokers. “He was form to everybody round him. Those that labored for him labored for him eternally.”
(Born June 1, 1945 in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Shirreffs grew up surrounded by horses and spent his youth between Port Washington, Lengthy Island, New York, and his household’s farm in New Hampshire.) He served within the U.S. Marine Corps through the Vietnam Conflict, then started a profession in coaching, finally turning into one of the vital well-known and revered conditioners on the West Coast.
Shirreffs started coaching within the Nineteen Seventies, but it surely wasn’t till the Nineties that his profession actually took off. His massive break got here in 1994, when he turned a non-public coach for Ed Nahem and Marshall Neifi’s 505 Farm, a place he held till Neifi’s loss of life in 2000. This relationship helped advance Shirreffs’ profession and fostered assist from different purchasers.
He will likely be eternally linked to Zenyatta. His late-game model led to a 19-game successful streak, together with his solely loss coming to Blame within the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Basic (Churchill Downs). She was the one filly to win the Breeders’ Cup Basic in 2009 and was named Horse of the Yr in 2010 regardless of shedding within the Basic. She additionally gained the Eclipse Award as Senior Feminine Champion three years in a row from 2008-2010.
The Breeders’ Cup praised Shirreffs in an announcement, saying: “John was extensively revered for his integrity, perseverance and unwavering dedication to the care and growth of his horses.
“In guiding Zenyatta to a Corridor of Fame profession, he by no means didn’t make an excellent racehorse out there to her followers, selling the game to hundreds of individuals throughout the nation and around the globe. He understood the accountability that comes with greatness and embraced the chance to share it, serving to to develop horse racing’s viewers and encourage a brand new technology of followers.”
Her common jockey, Mr Smith, mentioned Shirreffs’ long-term method to horses made him the right conditioner for Zenyatta.
“He by no means tried to hurry the horses. For those who give them time and get them in good situation, they may keep in good situation for a very long time,” he mentioned. “A few of them not solely keep good, however get higher and higher. For those who checked out Zenyatta at 2 or 3 years previous, you’ll by no means have guessed what she would turn into. However John noticed that and gave her that point.”
Shirreffs and Smith additionally teamed as much as win the Kentucky Derby with Giacomo, who wowed the Churchill Downs crowd by successful the race at odds of fifty.30 to 1. He was Shirreff’s first Kentucky Derby starter, however not his final.
He’ll run 5 extra horses for the rose, most not too long ago towards final yr’s present finisher Baeza. Baeza then completed third within the Belmont Stakes offered by NYRA Bets, and later went on to win the Pennsylvania Derby.
“It was simply an enormous thrill and sense of accomplishment, and now that we’re right here, it simply comes again a bit bit,” Shirreffs mentioned, reflecting on Giacomo’s Derby victory at Churchill Downs final spring that ready Southern California shipper Baeza for the primary leg of the Triple Crown race.
Indicative of his distinctive model of coaching and caring for horses, Shirreffs and his employees typically fed Baeza carrot “smoothies” manufactured from crushed carrots and their juice.
Shirreffs has gained top-level races with Zenyatta, Giacomo, Life is Candy and Baeza, in addition to Grade 1 wins with horses similar to Tiago, After Market, Harmonious, Categorical Prepare, Past Sensible and Gormley.
His final graded win got here on January 31 when he gained the San Pascal Stakes with Westwood ridden by Lee and Susan Shearing’s CRK secure.
“We love John. He loves what he does. He works laborious,” Lee Shearing mentioned after the race. “When he takes a horse he actually likes and develops it, there is no higher coach than John. The horses he is developed are phenomenal.”
Shirreffs, who was primarily based at Santa Anita Park for a few years, was extensively admired for his light demeanor and reluctance to hunt the highlight. Reporters who needed to listen to feedback from Mr. Shirreffs after successful an enormous race needed to rush to catch him earlier than he may comply with his horse again to the stables. However he was additionally identified for sitting and having considerate conversations with individuals he met within the barn.
After Shirreffs’ loss of life, Santa Anita Park launched an announcement Thursday, calling him “a fixture at Santa Anita Park all through his profession, and his legacy as a caring horseman will stay embedded in our historical past. Each horse that races at Santa Anita will first be acknowledged by John “John’s wins have been many and prestigious, however what he completed with Zenyatta within the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Basic was extraordinary.” “This can be a masterpiece, and it was rightly chosen as Santa Anita Park’s biggest second in 90 years. Our deepest condolences exit to John’s spouse, Dottie, and his household, together with the jockeys and girls who labored intently with John over time.”
On the monitor, Smith mentioned he was one of many many riders who loved using Shirreff.
“I believe any jockey will let you know that when he rode for John, he felt nice. It is laborious to clarify, however he is an excellent man and I knew every thing was going to be OK for the horse.”
Smith additionally expressed his condolences to Dottie, different members of the family, and people who labored for the coach.
“He was a person of loyalty, and he instilled that, so individuals have been loyal once more,” Ingold mentioned. “You’ll be able to’t educate it. You both have it or you do not.”
Ingold mentioned Dottie and Shirreffs have been married on Dec. 21, 2003, the identical day the coach gained the Hollywood Starlet Stakes with the aptly named Hollywood Story.
“Then they went to the racetrack and that was the marriage picture,” he mentioned.
Ingold mentioned different surviving members of the family embrace Shirreff’s sister, Anita. Shelley Devaux, who’s married to Ingold; And Ingold’s daughter, Regan, had deep ties to the Shirreff household.
He mentioned funeral preparations haven’t but been established.
—Frank Angst and Tracy Gantz contributed to this text
