24

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Calling John Shirreffs the greatest trainer of all-time probably sounds a lot like calling Ghostzapper or Candy Ride the greatest race horse of all-time.

He's never trained a winner in New York. He's won only 359 career races over a 17 year training career ... Asmussen won 598 races in 2009 alone.

With his small little stable - Shirreffs has won a Kentucky Derby (Giacomo) a Breeders Cup Classic (Zenyatta) and he's won the Grade 1 Santa Margarita with five different horses (Zenyatta, Life Is Sweet, Tarlow, Starrer, Manistique)

The greatest training achievment I've ever seen belongs to him.

In 1998 and 1999 - Shirreffs had just 24 horses debut. 14 of them won their debut - and 4 finished 2nd. He had 18 second time starters - of which 11 won.

That's 58.3% winners with debuters... and 61.1% winners with second time starters - at a time when So. Cal was unarguably the toughest year-round circuit in America.

His debuters didn't just win at scary high percentages - they ran like Graded Stakes caliber horses...and they were rarely bet. I named a lot of my passwords and a few E-mail addresses after John Shirreffs debuters from '98 and '99.

I have no idea - but I'd speculate Shirreffs trained the way he did at that time because his big owner 505 Farms wanted horses to be all cranked up on debut. I'd also speculate that the unravelling of 505 and the disapointment of two highly promising debut winners (Saudi Song and Matriculate) probably had a lot to do with Shirreffs sudden transformation from the worlds greatest debut trainer to a more cautious developer who brings them along slowly.

Here are some of his debuters...

(Manistique at the top. Saudi Song (who never raced again) is the next one. Matriculate is the 4th and last one. He went downhill fast





Hook and Ladder (won his debut as a 2yo with a 110 Beyer) is the 2nd one down. Carnivale Tranche beat the superstar filly Excellent Meeting in her debut. David Copperfield beat Fu Peg in his debut. Cliqout got beat a nose by General Challenge in his debut. High Wire Act is the one who got put up at 9/1 in his debut.




Swept Overboard at the top. He actually developed into an excellent horse when they changed his style and let him lag early instead of running off on a huge lead and setting killer fractions.




It's pretty amazing that the same guy who killed the entire world with just 24 debuters over two years a decade prior now has a mare he's cranking up in a bid for a 20-for-20 multiple Breeders Cup Classic winning career.

As cowardly as a Zenyatta campaign is leading into the Breeders Cup each year ... the way she's been handled by Shirreffs from start to finish has been a masterpiece. She's the best managed horse of all-time and I have no idea who's even second.

You can count on a cranked up Zenyatta on BC day... but a cranked up Giacomo could only manage 4th by 4.5 lengths to Invasor and Bernardini on BC day the last time the Classic was at Churchill. I'd certainly take Invasor and Bernardini all day against the '10 Classic field ... but I don't think a cranked up Zenyatta is going to fair as well as old Giacomo did in that '06 Classic.