John Shirreffs two best mares before Zenyatta
 

Manistique:

At Hollywood Park: 6-for-6 lifetime with 4 Graded Stakes wins. Those 6 wins coming by a combined 40.5 lengths for an AVG margin of victory of 6.75 lengths per win. Ran a mind-boggling 110 Beyer in her debut win at HP going 7 furlongs.

At Santa Anita: 5-for-5 lifetime with all 5 wins in Graded Stakes company.

Lifetime record in California: 12-11-1-0 - with 9 Graded Stakes wins. Beat future Eclipse champion older mares Riboletta and Gourmet Girl - both on multiple occasions.

Shipped out of So. Cal three different times ... finished 6.25 lengths behind Banshee Breeze in the Alabama, finished 10.75 lengths behind Banshee Breeze in the Apple Blossom, and finished 14.25 lengths behind Beautiful Pleasure in the BC Distaff.




Starrer:

Finished her career with 3 straight huge stakes scores out West for Shirreffs. Including back to back Grade 1 wins where she toyed with You in the Santa Maria and toyed with Sightseek in the Santa Margarita. She was 2nd to Azeri in the Lady's Secret for her last So. Cal loss




As uninspiring as Manistique's and Starrer's form are when Shirreffs had them leave Cal ... does anyone really think either horse would have gone down to Taptam or Brownie Points?

Starrer was soo average....Manistique had a lot of talent, maybe she just was not a good shipper?

I think it's probably an understatement to say Manistique wasn't a good shipper.

Shireffs was a great trainer in 1999 ... he won 40% of his races that year on a brutally tough year round circuit and had his 4th straight profitable ROI on the betting dollar year. He was doing things with first-time-starters that I know I'll never see again. I would think 505 put pressure on him to win early - because once 505 was gone ... Shirreffs started to radically change his style of training. He's no longer even a good debut trainer ... let alone possibly the greatest to ever live.

It would have been interesting to see if Manistique was developed more slowly like Zenyatta was - instead of cranked up to peak from the outset.

Out of curiosity, has Shirreffs won a race in NY before?

I don't think so.

He's only shipped 8 different horses that I can think of.

He shipped Bertrando twice and was beaen 12 lengths in the Woodward and 25 lengths in the NYRA Mile.

He shipped Cliquot - who was 3rd to Adonis in the Wood.

He shipped After Market - who just missed as the favorite to Trippi's Storm in the Kelso.

He shipped Giacomo - who made that menacing move in the Belmont and stopped to a walk in the stretch

He also ran Tiago in the Belmont - who plugged along for 3rd

Hollywood Story got crushed in the BC Distaff at Belmont.

Manistique and Starrer both were beat soundly at Saratoga.

who trained Colonel John? (I guess I just assumed sheriffs but I could be completely wrong)

Harty

As much as I like watching Cal racing and betting it, these two only continue to prove my point that it is easier for a standout to dominate the highest levels in California because it's out on an island. Very few shippers as opposed to a Kentucky or New York where the potential talent pool is deeper and the probability of a horse maintaining a long win streak dips significantly.

Doug..

Prove to everyone how aggressive Shirreffs can be spotting his horses... Pull up Hollywood Story.

Who or what is 505? Excuse the ignorance.

Here's her first 17 races: http://www.drf.com/row/pps/hollywoodstory.pdf

She ended up shipping three more times after that ...

Beaten 22 lengths by Pleasant Home in the Distaff.

Beaten 16 by Spun Sugar in the Apple Blossom.

Beaten 21 by Round Pond in the Distaff.


She was smoked all 5 times she left Cal. You can kind of see why the guy isn't a big fan of shipping all over when he's trying to protect a win/loss record.

The name of a farm that owned A LOT of really nice horses in So. Cal - they broke up in like the year 2000 I think.

They gave Shirreffs his first big break and he trained a lot of VERY good horses for them. I believe they gave him Bertrando as a rookie trainer on his own after Frankel refused to train him any more.

Loved, loved, loved this filly to death. How many horses break their maidens in a Gr. I? She ultimately only would win races at Hollywood, but ran great plenty of times elsewhere. It was Shirreffs aggressive handling of her that telegraphed Giacomo for me in the Derby.

505 Farms was actually MArshall Naify HE passed away in 2000 and his daughter(can't think of her name) held a dispersal sale at Barretts Equine.

I think Marshall had something to do woth the Movie Business.

The remnants of the stable are managed by Marsha Naify under her own name. She's the daughter of the late Marshall Naify, the owner of 505. Free Flying Soul, Street Boss, and Surf Cat are some of her more prominent runners. Typically uses Bruce Headley, but I think she uses one or two others including Cristophe Clement in NY.

Bertrando was part-owned by the late Ed Nahem of King Edward Stable and he originally was to train the horse when Frankel declined to. However, he couldn't get a trainer's license and for a while at least, John Shirreffs was considered a "program" trainer.

I think Sweet Catomine did as well.

Starrer broke her's in a stakes race IIRC, while trained by David Hofmans. Might have been the Santa Paula Stakes.

Heres a link to the results for the 505 Farm dispersal Sale.

http://barretts.com/SalesResults/results/rs150500.asp

I had forgotten a few of these horses that sold that day for Big money
PLus I didn't remember 505 having Hook and Ladder when he was 2

I think Starrer might be the last horse to ever lose the jockey at the start while an odds on favorite in a Grade 1 race.

Hook And Ladder freaked in his debut race.

How about Swept Overboard for just 700K? There's one that eventually shipped East and killed them in the Met Mile two years later: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF55D5ahx1s

THanks for that Link I loved that Horse, Actually watched his race from the Ancient Title in 2001 when He beat Kona Gold too

Marsha Naify still has horses with Bruce Headley, Mandella, she owns Free Flying Soul who ran third in the BC last year and then won the Grade 1 sprint there this winter.

You mean "didn't win the Grade 1 sprint there this winter."

They also owned a horse, and trained by Shirreffs who beat a Kentucky Derby winner in both their debut races, later the horse was bought by the Thoroughbred corp....I would ask you to name them but its such an obvious answer.

yea maybe, thought headley won a grade 1 this winter sprinting, maybe it was the malibu.

Why did Frankel refuse to train him?

I could be wrong but I think this was after they unretired him.

Probably because he had been bred, then they wanted to bring him back..

The bloodhorse has video about Bertrando, a few things are addressed in it... http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...E-C50B6D13FF8F

Yeah - they bred him to a bunch of mares - and than put him back in training I think.

Thanks!

That video was interesting, thanks for posting it!

Here's an LA Times article that covers a lot of the comeback, especially the behind-the-scenes bit:

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-08-...6280_1_del-mar

Good article, Ed Nahem must have been fun to train for.

Can you imagine him working with Shirreffs?

You probably remember, he's the guy who owned the decent Cal-bred Hugh Hefner (by Bertrando actually). Ran in the Preakness following a win in the Snow Chief, and IIRC, Hef showed up at Pimlico with a stable of his own to parade around with.

Stardom Bound did as well.

$2.6 million for the horse best known for beating Fusaichi Pegasus in that one's debut...

She came out of OBS March with the 3f bullet and was unblinkered - and every other horse from that sale who previewed 3/8 was like dog food compared to her.

I remember watching her debut at 5.5fs and expecting her to shoot to the lead and trounce the field ... she walked out of the gate and was like 15 back and came flying to lose a close photo.

I can't get over how her - and now a horse like Aikenite took the style of becoming closers.

I remember an interview with Frankel around that time where he stated they don't run as well after they hit the breeding shed. He was probably right as Bertrando was not the same horse as he was the prior year when he finished second in the BC Classic giving up the lead to Arcangues.

He did recover enough of his previous form to win the Goodwood over then 3yo Dramatic Gold (who was 3rd in the BC Classic next out). IIRC, Bertrando got a decent Beyer in that race.

He was horrific after the '94 BC.