What Shirreffs left behind was more than enough

The size 42 Ariat sanding boots were neatly grouped together under the practical metal desk. Stored in a corner were their companion Hilfiger duck boots, caked with mud from the most recent rain.

On the cluttered desktop, a pair of scratched reading glasses sat next to a Santa Anita fitness book opened for the Feb. 15 races, with a first special race for 4- and 5-year-olds circled next to the notation “Silent Way.”

Two tubes of Gastrogard horse ulcer treatment shared a corner of the desk with a collection of essential oils in small bottles. There was a red canvas bag containing a GoPro camera. A roll of gauze. A box of Kinesio Gold adhesive tape. A turquoise “clicker” hanging from a nail above the desk.

Pieces of a man.

The death of John Shirreffs at home in the early, dark hours of February 12 put mortality back on the agenda – not just for members of his generation, but for anyone who surrenders each night to the embrace of sleep and is reasonably certain that he will awaken again to a new day. That is, all of us.

John was 80, an old soul, young at heart and more conceptual artist than thoroughbred trainer. Horses were his canvas, on which he painted a series of beloved masterpieces with names such as Giacomo, Manistique, Life Is Sweet, After Market, Tiago, Honor APTarlow, Yankee Gentleman, Hollywood Story, Express Train and dozens of others who benefited from the touch of a man who respected their individuality while crawling under their skin.

“He’s very strong-willed and doesn’t get affected by a lot of things,” Shirreffs said Madeo his winner of the 2008 Del Mar Derby (G2T). “He’s the kind of colt you don’t really have to think about much because there’s no reward in worrying about Madeo.”

Skinner was a pricey one Curl colt who made noise like a classic contender and then declined. Shirreffs thought that working hard in a company would save him.

“At the eighth pole he said, ‘I’m done. I don’t want to be part of this,'” Shirreffs said. “The next time we took him to the track, he just gritted his teeth and washed out. I read something once about how horses think. Of course, they don’t really ‘think’ as we know it, but their main thought is, ‘Am I safe?’ After that one training, Skinner no longer had confidence in us. It took a long time for us to regain his trust and feel good about things again.”

In his final start for Shirreffs, Skinner won the 2024 Native Diver Stakes (G3) at Sea.

Baeza in return for Journalism And Burger Taurus in the 2025 Santa Anita Derby (G1). “So I’ll look for it wherever I can. If I see a homeless person on the way to the track, I will definitely stop. You can never have too much good karma.”

READ: Grade 1 winner Baeza transferred to Mott

There were photos on the walls of John’s office, both memories and keepsakes. Zenyatta and Manistique were there, of course, and Harmonious, Martin Wygod’s filly whose name represented nothing less than the stable’s mission. A special space was given to the 2017 Santa Anita Derby, in which the Shirreffs colts will appear Gormley and Royal Mo, both owned by Jerry Moss, finished first and third.

“When I first worked for John, I rubbed two horses: Manistique and the stable pony,” says Mario Espinoza, one of the lifers in Shirreffs’ job.

Espinoza went on to groom many of the stable’s best, including Life Is Sweet and Zenyatta. Espinoza’s wife, Carmen Zamora, was tasked with walking Zenyatta for two hours every day before Mario began his work with the big mare.

“One day I got up early and all I wanted to do was shower and eat breakfast before going to the barn,” Espinoza recalls. ‘Then I get a call from John. ‘Come over here now. Zenyatta is running around her stable! No one can catch her but you.”

“So I get there, go to the stable and within maybe 10 minutes she lays down and goes to sleep,” Espinoza said. “John says, ‘Look at that. You spoiled her.’ I said, ‘No, boss. It’s you who created a monster!'”

Espinoza’s audience there in the empty barn row laughed, because they knew both statements were true. Among them was Shandra Hudson, who spent years at the Hollywood Park stable gate leading pilgrims to Shirreff’s barn for an audience with Zenyatta. Now she helped care for the well-being of the suddenly rudderless stable crew and provided valuables, per the wishes of John’s wife, Dottie.

“What about this one?” Hudson said, pointing to a black-and-white photo hanging on the opposite wall that depicts a man sitting by a stream with two horses soaking their legs. “It’s written on the back.”

John’s print read: ‘Henry Freitas manager of Loma Rica Ranch with Most Host and his pony ‘Sparkie’ at the creek near the training track. Photo given to me by Dr. Robbins.’

The note was signed by Shirreffs and the reference was to Dr. Jack Robbins, the industry leader and co-owner of Most Host, the California gelding who shocked Damascus in the 1968 Charles H. Strub Stakes.

Shirreffs worked for Freitas at Loma Rica Ranch before moving to the track as a trainer. Everything he learned from that day prepared the ground for his dealings with Zenyatta.

“When she was here, it was almost like Sandy Koufax was in the bullpen,” Shirreffs once said, referring to the often unattainable Dodgers star of the 1960s. “No matter what happened, every time you led Zenyatta, you felt like you could win.”

When saying goodbye to Zenyatta, the trainer had to deal with a difficult farewell after 19 victories and one narrow defeat in their five-year relationship.

“I learned that lesson working with yearlings in Loma Rica,” Shirreffs said. “They came in and you really bonded with them. Took care of every hair. Spent hours and hours helping them learn what to do. And then, one day, they were loaded into the vans, and that was it. They were gone. As a trainer, you have to accept that. You can only hope that while they’re with you, you can teach them something. Something that helped them along.”

On the office floor next door, a 35-pound container of Mrs. Pastures’ “biscuits for horses” sat almost empty. Foreman Frank Leal and groom Miguel Morales sifted through the variety of therapeutic gadgets Shirreffs collected, always adding new-age technology to his old school curriculum. Just outside the office, a bright orange wall box with the monogram “LSB” stood in stark contrast to the remaining royal blue accents of the Shirreffs motif. Hudson explained the origin.

“It came from Laz Barrera to Bill Spawr, who gave it to me when he retired,” she said.

Hall of Famer Barrera owned a barn on the West Coast for many years until his death in 1991. Shirreffs worked for the widely respected Spawr, trainer of champion Amazombie.

“I thought John should have it,” Hudson said. “Something like that, with a lot of history attached to it, meant a lot to him.”

Hudson was silent for a moment and then told the difficult part out loud.

“He said I could have it when he retired.”