John Shirreffs isn’t just being modest about his accomplishments in nearly a half-century as a thoroughbred trainer when he downplays his chances of being elected to the national racing Hall of Fame, for which he was nominated again last week.
He’s acknowledging it has been a minute and change since he achieved his greatest glory. Zenyatta’s Breeders’ Cup Classic rally happened in 2009 and her Horse of the Year title came in 2010. Giacomo’s Kentucky Derby upset was in 2005.
“The people that are voting now probably don’t even know who I am,” Shirreffs said with a laugh.
But it’s not as if he is necessarily done winning big races.
Shirreffs will try to win the $300,000, Grade I Santa Anita Handicap on Saturday with Express Train, a horse who’s already remarkable for being competitive with the best of California’s older males at age 8, three years after he first won the Big ’Cap.
And while Shirreffs will hold the 3-year-old named Baeza out of the $300,000, Grade II San Felipe Stakes on Saturday, he’ll do so with the intention of having the colt rested and ready for the April 5 Santa Anita Derby and potential qualification for the May 3 Kentucky Derby.
Shirreffs will turn 80 on June 1 but cuts a more youthful image, from his phone- and camera-equipped Meta smart glasses down to his multicolored HOKA “plush” sneakers.
Sitting in an otherwise empty Santa Anita grandstand watching the last of Monday morning’s workouts, he reminisced. About falling in love with horses as a 14-year-old working at private stables on Long Island, sitting astride a thoroughbred for the first time and feeling its heart pounding. About learning not to take shortcuts from Henry Freitas at Loma Rica Ranch in Northern California, where he landed after a Vietnam War-era stint in the Marines. About watching Giacomo’s Derby win at 50-1 from a spot so low and so far up the Churchill Downs homestretch that he couldn’t see the finish, learning what happened when exercise rider Frankie Herrarte came running, shouting, “Boss! We won! We won!” About how if touching any horse has the same grounding effect as hugging a tree, touching Zenyatta is “like (hugging) a giant sequoia.”
The memories all come back to Shirreffs’ love of training horses, the saving grace of working in an industry that doesn’t always appreciate its most valuable people, the reason he’s still arriving at his Santa Anita barn at about 4:20 a.m. each day.
“The stable is probably half of what it was,” said Shirreffs, whose roster of horses numbers 25. “That’s OK. I never wanted a mega-stable. I wanted to be part of the horses, making daily decisions.”
It’s not only about winning.
“If you’re lucky, you run into a streak where you’re winning, what, 20% of the races? A lot of the time you’re not winning 20%,” said Shirreffs, who in fact is winning 8% of his starts (2 of 26) at the current Santa Anita meet. “You have to enjoy your day-to-day with the horses, because that’s where most of the pleasure is going to be.”
Any trainer enjoys watching a horse improve. Which is why Shirreffs was rooting hard Jan. 25, throwing a fist in the air, as he stood at the railing behind the Santa Anita box seats and watched Express Train and jockey Hector Berrios take the lead in mid-stretch of the San Pasqual Stakes, only to finish second, two lengths behind Katonah and Tiago Pereira.
“There was so much riding on that race for him, at this point in his career,” Shirreffs said of Express Train, who needed a good result to justify running in the Santa Anita Handicap. “It was more intense, more stressful, and the release to see him do well was a little bigger. I thought it was an improved effort.”
Express Train has seven victories from 24 career starts and earnings of more than $1.5 million but hasn’t won in seven starts since he beat Warrant by a head as an 11-10 favorite in the 2022 Big ’Cap. The three-year drought includes an 18-month break from racing from October 2022 to April 2024. Shirreffs credits owners Lee and Susan Searing for sharing his willingness to give horses beneficial time off.
It’s unusual for an ungelded horse of Express Train’s quality to still be racing at age 8, but Shirreffs says he still sees desire to run. Besides, a son of Union Rags wouldn’t have huge value as a stallion.
If Express Train wins Saturday’s 1¼-mile Big ’Cap, he’ll be the oldest horse to win Santa Anita’s marquee race since 8-year-old Olhaverry in 1947 (7-year-old winners include Seabiscuit, Quicken Tree, Cougar II, John Henry and Game On Dude). He’d be the second with multiple wins in non-consecutive years (joining 2011, 2013 and 2014 winner Game On Dude).
Morning-line maker Jeff Siegel lists Express Train at 10-1 in the nine-horse field, behind East Coast shippers Locked (3-2) and Hit Show (5-2), improving Mirahmadi (6-1), San Pasqual winner Katonah (8-1) and Bob Baffert-trained New King (8-1).
Shirreffs nominated Baeza, the Searings’ $1.2 million yearling-auction purchase, to Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile San Felipe after the son of McKinzie romped to his maiden win in his third start Feb. 14. But the trainer decided to pass up this race and go straight to the Santa Anita Derby with Baeza, a late foal who is still developing.
“If I run him in the San Felipe off a two-week rest, then bring him back in the Santa Anita Derby, then, if all goes well, come back in the next race, that’s a lot of racing for him,” said Shirreffs, the “next race” meaning the Kentucky Derby. “It is a big jump (from a maiden win to the Santa Anita Derby). A lot depends upon the training.”
A victory in the Santa Anita Handicap or the Santa Anita Derby would be Shirreffs’ first Grade I win since Express Train’s Big ’Cap three years ago, and would add a line to his résumé for the Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
But it doesn’t sound as if he needs that to keep loving what he does.
Looking out at the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance and horses exercising in the foreground, he said, “How can you not?”
Follow horse racing correspondent Kevin Modesti at X.com/KevinModesti.