There were times in the summer and fall of 2010 when California trainer John Shirreffs, who died on Thursday, was racing’s best promoter. Shirreffs guided the career of Zenyatta, who won an historic running of the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita in November 2009 with a come-from-behind move that extended her unbeaten record to 14 races. That winter, owners Jerry and Ann Moss announced Zenyatta would stay in training in 2010, a wildly popular decision with her fans who often showed up unannounced on weekends at the Shirreffs barn at Del Mar and Hollywood Park for a glimpse of the brilliant mare. By the fall of 2010, with the winning streak at 19, Shirreffs had a method to accommodate the small audiences, setting up an area outside of barn 55 at Hollywood Park for fans to take pictures while Zenyatta would graze or be walked. At times, it was hard to tell who was having a better time – the people visiting the barn, or Shirreffs himself, standing a few yards away and reflecting on the scene. Shirreffs, a devoted fan of Thoroughbred racing past and present, knew Zenyatta was part of the sport’s history and was determined to share the moment. Shirreffs died in his sleep at his California home, according to friends and family. He had spent the weekend in Ocala, Fla., to inspect 2-year-olds in the company of his leading clients, Lee and Susan Searing. During the trip, Shirreffs was fighting an illness, Lee Searing said. “It’s really sad,” Searing said on Thursday afternoon. “We lost a fine man.” John Shirreffs was 80. At the time of his death, he had more than 30 horses in training at Santa Anita, notably the outstanding 4-year-old Baeza and the recent graded stakes winner Westwood, both owned by the Searings. :: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more. Baeza won the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby last September, and was third in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes last spring. Baeza was the final top-level stakes winner for Shirreffs, who will forever be associated with the Hall of Fame mare Zenyatta, the 2010 Horse of the Year. She won 19 of 20 starts, finishing second to Blame in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in her final start. During many wins toward the end of her career, jockey Mike Smith had a post-race routine. Instead of guiding her immediately to the winner’s circle, Smith would ride Zenyatta down the track in front of the grandstand. “John would say, ‘Jog her down and let the people see her,’ ” Smith recalled on Thursday afternoon. “He wanted me to let everyone see and cheer for her. “He knew what she meant to the sport.” Five years earlier, Shirreffs won the 2005 Kentucky Derby with Giacomo in a 50-1 upset. Chasing a wickedly fast pace, Giacomo closed from 18th in a field of 20 in the last half-mile to win by a half-length under Smith. Smith said on Thursday that he was “in shock” over the passing of Shirreffs. “The industry lost a giant,” Smith said. “It lost a great man. One of the greatest horsemen and a great man.” John Shirreffs won 596 races from 3,589 starters who earned more than $58.5 million in prize money. Aside from the Searings and Mosses, Shirreffs trained on behalf of such clients as 505 Farms, Ed Nahem, George Krikorian, and Marty and Pam Wygod. Born in Kansas, Shirreffs served with the Marines in Vietnam and settled in California in the 1970s, initially working on farms in Northern California. He trained a small number of runners at Bay Area tracks and on the Northern California fair circuit before working as a veterinary assistant and later as an assistant to other trainers, notably Brian Mayberry and Bill Spawr. In 1994, the year he turned 51, Shirreffs began training privately for 505 Farms, and had early success with Bertrando, who won the Grade 2 Goodwood Handicap that year at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting. In the late 1990s and into early 2000, Shirreffs trained the mare Manistique, who won nine Grade 1 or Grade 2 races in California for 505 Farms. The private arrangement ended in 2000. Shirreffs quickly attracted other clients, winning the Grade 1 Santa Maria and Santa Margarita handicaps in 2003 with Starrer for Krikorian, and the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap in 2005 with Tarlow for the Mosses. Two months later, Giacomo won the Kentucky Derby. In the years that followed, Shirreffs won Grade 1 races such as the 2006 Vanity Handicap with Hollywood Story for Krikorian, the 2006 Santa Anita Derby with Tiago for the Mosses, and the Charles Whittingham and Eddie Read handicaps in 2007 with After Market for the Wygods. That summer, in a casual barn area conversation with a Daily Racing Form correspondent at Hollywood Park, Shirreffs mentioned he had a promising filly in his barn. “I have Balance’s little sister,” he said. Balance had won five stakes by then, including the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in 2006 and the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Stakes in 2007. On Thanksgiving Day 2007 at Hollywood Park, Balance’s half-sister, Zenyatta, won a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs, closing from last of 12 to prevail by three lengths. Zenyatta won her first stakes in the Grade 2 El Encino Stakes for 4-year-old fillies at Santa Anita in January 2008, her first Grade 1 in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park that April, and the ninth race of her career in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Santa Anita in November 2008. A year later at Santa Anita, Shirreffs won the BC Ladies Classic with Life Is Sweet, and the BC Classic the following day with Zenyatta. After Zenyatta’s retirement at the end of 2010, Shirreffs had a few quiet seasons. He won two Grade 1 races at Hollywood Park in 2011 – the American Oaks with Nereid and the Matriarch with Star Billing – but did not win another race at that level until Gormley won the 2016 FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita. Gormley gave Shirreffs a second win in the Santa Anita Derby the following spring. Shirreffs added a third win in the 2020 Santa Anita Derby with Honor A. P. for the Searings. The race was run in June that year, postponed two months because of the pandemic. Honor A. P. was fourth in the Kentucky Derby that September. Earlier this decade, Shirreffs won such Grade 1 races as the 2021 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar with Beyond Brilliant, the 2022 Santa Anita Handicap with Express Train, and the Grade 2 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita in 2024 with Atitlan. Shirreffs’s last stakes win was Westwood in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 31. The day after the win, Shirreffs said he was eager to start Westwood in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 7. Westwood won his first stakes in the San Pasqual, his 10th start. He was emblematic of his trainer’s approach to the sport, often taking his time to allow a runner to develop at their own pace instead of a program dictated by a condition book or stakes schedule. The method would sometimes test the patience of owners, or of front office officials eager to fill races, but was often done in the best interest of the horse. “He waited on each and every one of them,” Smith said. “He gave them all the time in the world they needed. “Once he got them there, he could keep them racing forever. He was that good to them.” Survivors include his wife, Dottie, her son David, and a granddaughter Reagan. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports David Ingordo saw up close the way Shirreffs operated his stable. On Thursday, he recalled the way Shirreffs planned Giacomo’s 2005 campaign in advance of the Triple Crown. Giacomo had three starts at Santa Anita before the Kentucky Derby that year, finishing third in the Sham Stakes in February, second in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes in March, and fourth in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby behind Buzzards Bay. Giacomo was ignored in the Kentucky Derby, until he launched a rally. “The most impressive thing was how he trained Giacomo to the minute,” Ingordo said. “That was his most impressive feat. He worked back from the Kentucky Derby and he had him ready. “It was a master training job.” In his spare time, Shirreffs sought out century-old racing books about the early years of American racing and the history of British racing. He was particularly enamored by the early years of racing in New York in the late 1800s and early 1900s at tracks that have long since ceased to exist. “He was a proper student of the game,” David Ingordo said. “What the industry say they want, he embodied. “People don’t realize how great this game was and what John did. He did it his way. He was one man and he did what he could to help this game.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.