John Shirreffs MO with his stable stars

[Calzone Lord]

John Shirreffs got his start on his own as the private trainer for 505 Farms. 505 Farms was owned by a guy named Marshall Naify and his partner Eddie Nahem. They weren't easy guys to train for and they made Bobby Frankel run horses in spots where he even complained to the press he didn't want to run in.

Frankel trained 505's best horse Bertrando to a 2nd place finish in the 1993 Breeders Cup Classic. Naify's plan for Bertrando in 1994 was to use him as a stallion during the breeding season -- and race him in the summer through the rest of the year after he returned from the breeding shed. Bobby Frankel refused to do it.

Naify and Nahem fired Frankel (or the other way around) and they went out and hired John Shirreffs (An assistant trainer for Eduardo Inda at the time) to be 505's private trainer.

Bertrando had been bred to a bunch of mares earlier in the year in '94...Shirreffs still won the Goodwood with him and managed a 6th place finish in the BC Classic after he set a very fast pace (Concern won from dead last)

The point is that Naify and Nahem weren't typical owners and seemed to like things done their way.

John Shirreffs record with first time starters from 1998-through-1999 was 24-14-4-0 (58.3% wins) $7.63 ROI.

Shirreffs big 505 filly Manistique popped a 110 Beyer in her debut.

Hook And Ladder also ran a 110 in his debut for him.

David Copperfield beat Fusaichi Pegasus in his debut (Fu Peg didn't lose again until the Preakness)

A lot of other ran monster figures but didn't develop into anything.

Basically, John Shirreffs was the most remarkable debut trainer I had ever witnessed. He was lethal at cranking horses up with workouts. That was until Marshall Naify died in 2000 and all the 505 Farms horses were dispersed at auction.

Shirreffs went back out on his own and immediately changed his MO with his new clients. He became a very patient and conservative trainer who was average at best with debut horses. He has always kept a small stable and he takes his time with horses.

All of the tedious background on him above is relevant (I think anyway) because of his incredible skill with preparing his star horses to run peak efforts for their long-term goals.


* Giacomo was briefly the future book Kentucky Derby favorite in Las Vegas after a strong closing 2nd place finish to the eventual 2yo champion in the Hollywood Futurity. His goal to start the season was quite obviously the Kentucky Derby. Giacomo was 3rd to Going Wild in the Sham, a distant 2nd to Consolidator in the San Felipe and 4th to Buzzard's Bay in the Santa Anita Derby.

His worktab was a joke for all of his Derby preps. But after the Santa Anita Derby, Shirreffs cranked him up with a bullet 7 furlong work and a bullet 6 furlong work. Very uncharacteristically fast works from out of nowhere as you can see.



Giacomo was no longer being babied, he was cranked up for his yearlong objective and won the race at 50/1 odds.

As a 4-year-old, Shirreffs long term goal with Giacomo was the BC Classic. He had been terrible coming into the BC Classic and obviously had no chance with monsters like Bernardini and Invasor.

Long story short -- Giacomo ran a great 4th and was beaten just 4.5 lengths for the win by Invasor, Bernardini, and 3rd place finisher Premium Tap (who won the Grade 1 Clark Handicap by 7 lengths next time out) Note the improvement Giacomo showed in his goal race:

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* Giacomo's brother Tiago was babied along early. Unlike Giacomo, he didn't have the Graded earnings. He couldn't get to the Kentucky Derby without a big performance in the Santa Anita Derby.

After a series of dull works ... Shirreffs drilled him for the SA Derby and he responded with a 29/1 win in the Santa Anita Derby, which gave him the earnings he needed to make the Kentucky Derby.





Tiago's main objective at age 4 was the Breeders Cup Classic. He performed dismally that season, but ran a surprising 3rd in the BC Classic, beating Curlin home as the top finishing American in the race.

He ran to his max in his main objective, but his surrounding form was gruesome:




* Zenyatta -- Same profile. He would pick out the softest campaign for her during the year. When it came time for her Super Bowl at the end of each season, Shirreffs would take off the gloves and drill her in her workouts.

Here are her final two preps before she won the Breeders Cup Classic. Her worktab going into the BC Classic the year she won it is below.



It wasn't the same horse who was just getting by and beating garbage all year. She was a fully cranked Super Zenyatta. Able to blow away the likes of Gio Ponti instead of just getting up against allowance caliber fillies.

Even though Zenyatta was 2nd to Blame in the Classic the following year -- she had the same pattern and she ran MUCH better when 2nd to Blame than she had in her moderate performances leading up to it.


* Life Is Sweet worked a 1:11 and change bullet in her final drill before she snapped a 4 race losing steak for Shirreffs in the BC Distaff, winning big at 8/1 odds.

Long story short -- Mr. Commons was still a maiden at the start of his 3-year-old season. He developed into Shirreffs new stable star and finished 5th in last years Breeders Cup Mile at Churchill.

Mr. Commons main objective all year was the Breeders Cup Mile on his home court. He's been disappointing and is winless in his last five races ... but those weren't bad performances and now Shirreffs has lit him up with 3 straight bullet works since his last race. Two of which at six furlongs. He's working further and faster for a master.

He might not be good enough -- but he turned off a lot of people when he was losing his last five starts in a row at odds of 3/5, 4/5, 3/2, 2/1, and 7/2 while on the path here to his main objective.

The same way Giacomo turned off a lot of people when he couldn't beat Roger Stein horses and Going Wild. The same way Zenyatta turned off a lot of people when she was barely getting by against creampuffs. This was always Mr. Common's Super Bowl tomorrow. Shirreffs knows how to get them ready off of workouts. I'm betting Mr. Commons tomorrow on faith.