John Shirreffs

It was morning on the backside at Del Mar. Trainers and their staff were busy tending to their chores. Some horses were being prepared for their morning gallops but for the most part it was quiet, typical for a weekday during the fall meet. 

But in one particular stall a horse was having issues. 

Across the freeway from the racetrack, in a marshy area of the San Dieguito Lagoon, a construction crew was installing large metal pylons using a device that made a loud clang as it crashed down on the metal pylon, driving it into the ground. Throughout the morning you could hear the distinct sound of metal meeting metal. Bang !!! Bang !!! Bang!!! A constant pounding, loud enough to be heard but easily dismissed…by humans. 

But to a high-strung Thoroughbred like Express Train, it was very disturbing. Enter trainer John Shirreffs, a veteran of the game who had been to the mountain top of horseracing with Zenyatta and had won a Kentucky Derby with Giacomo. He knew a thing or two about horses and on this particular morning he was in the stall with Express Train, talking him off the ledge so to speak. In a soft whisper, Shirreffs tried to soothe the savage beast, though with every new round of hammering, Express Train was back in a bad place, tossing his head and vocalizing his displeasure.

Undeterred, Shirreffs stayed with his horse for as long as it took to calm him down. Stroking his neck, patting him on the back, reassuring Express Train with a zen-like whisper that everything was all right. It was a marvelous display of horsemanship and eventually the Thoroughbred returned to his old self.

For the first time in over 30 years, John Shirreffs will not be wandering the Del Mar backside this summer, tending to the horses in his barn or taking the short walk out to the viewer stand near the half mile pole to observe one of his horses out on the track. Shirreffs passed away suddenly last February. He was 80 years old.

John was always approachable. If you caught him on a good day he would open up and lend insight into the horses, the kind of knowledge that came with being around them his entire life, not to mention what he picked up from 47 years of training. 

My last conversation with John came during last year’s fall meet which was plagued by a couple of rainstorms that interrupted training for the horses stabled at Del Mar. On this particular day, Shirreffs and I were seated on his favorite viewing stand talking about the necessity to get a horse out of his stall. In that brief conversation I learned of the importance of keeping a horse moving, how the “frog” in a horse’s hoof helps pump the blood. It was a lesson in horsemanship provided by one of the best in the business. It was not a lecture. It was presented in an unpretentious and simple way that even a novice like myself could understand. 

Many of Shirreffs horses have been switched to new barns since John’s passing in February. Some like star Baeza are with Bill Mott on the East Coast. That’s a noticeable void on the backside of Del Mar. The couch and seating area Shirreffs’ set up outside his office at barn MM is also a notable absence. As well as the man himself.