John Shirreffs, an innovative horse trainer who patiently guided the unheralded Giacomo, a 50-1 long shot, to victory in the 2005 Kentucky Derby, then nurtured Zenyatta, a spectacular mare, to 19 consecutive victories over three years before she narrowly lost her final race, died on Feb. 12 at his home in Arcadia, Calif. He was 80.
His stepson, David Ingordo, confirmed the death but said the cause had not been determined.
Mr. Shirreffs was known for his calmness, shyness in the spotlight and willingness to use idiosyncratic methods to bring out a horse’s best.
“Is that not the joy of training, having fun with different personalities, doing something that’ll help them bridge that gap?” he said in an interview with Thoroughbred Daily News in 2021.
He had been training horses for nearly 30 years when he saddled Giacomo for the Kentucky Derby. Giacomo had won only one of his seven races, but Mr. Shirreffs said he believed he had improved with each race and had not yet peaked.
He was right. On race day, Giacomo surged from 18th place after three-quarters of a mile as jockey Mike Smith maneuvered him through traffic to challenge and overtake the leaders.
“It’s not like each race is so important,” Mr. Shirreffs told The Courier Journal of Louisville after Giacomo’s victory, the second-biggest upset in Derby history. “It’s sort of like the combination of the races have to prepare the horse for the Kentucky Derby.”
Like Giacomo, Zenyatta was owned by Jerry and Ann Moss. Mr. Moss built his wealth in the music business as Herb Alpert’s partner in A&M Records. Giacomo was named for one of the sons of Sting, the frontman for the Police, and Zenyatta after “Zenyatta Mondatta,” the band’s 1980 album, an A&M release.
Mr. Shirreffs determined that Zenyatta was not ready to run with the other 3-year-olds in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, which comprise the Triple Crown of horse racing. So he bided his time until later that year, when he sent her out to race at Hollywood Park, in Inglewood, Calif., for her first victory.
To lessen the noise around the horse Mr. Shirreffs put cotton in her ears. During warm-ups, he sometimes stood her at the quarter pole on the track, to teach her to contain her nervous energy. In the afternoons, he served her a Guinness beer or two.
“He did a lot of quirky things to teach her patience,” said Mr. Smith, who was also Zenyatta’s jockey, said in an interview. “He thought outside the box.”
The regimen worked. Her 19 consecutive victories included her greatest win, at the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic, where she defeated an all-male international field. A year earlier, she won the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic.
Along the way, she attracted crowds of fans at her paddock and inspired poetry and music. She was featured in a segment on “60 Minutes,” lionized in the magazine W and named to the annual Power List of Oprah Winfrey’s O magazine.
“She could well be the world’s most invincible athlete,” O declared.
For Mr. Shirreffs, Zenyatta was the horse of a lifetime, a 1,200-pound bolt of lightning who often lingered in the back of the pack before slicing through her competitors as if they were standing still.
“I’ve had horses that can really quicken, but not only does she quicken, she lengthens her stride so she gets longer and lower,” he told The New York Times in 2008. “She really reaches out.”
But when she returned to defend her crown at the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2010, she lost to Blame by a head, after racing from behind.
“I was just happy with everything Zenyatta has done,” Mr. Shirreffs said after the race. “She ran her heart out.”
John Alexander Shirreffs was born on June 1, 1945, in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and grew up on Long Island and on a horse farm in New Hampshire. His father, also named John, was a pilot who bred horses. His mother was Maryjane (Ford) Shirreffs.
Despite his familiarity with horses, Mr. Shirreffs did not immediately enter the business. After serving in the Marine Corps, including a tour in Vietnam, he found work on a cattle farm in Lincoln, Calif., then learned horsemanship and training at the Loma Rica Horse Ranch in Grass Valley, Calif.
In 1976, he got his trainer’s license and, soon after, his first win. His horses won modestly until the 1990s, when he began training at 505 Farm, near Lexington, Ky.
Mr. Shirreffs moved into the Mosses’ orbit when he was interviewed in 2000 for a training job by their racing manager, Dottie Ingordo. He and Ms. Ingordo married in 2003.
Ms. Ingordo-Shirreffs and her son, Mr. Ingordo, an agent who buys and sells horses, survive him, along with a sister, Anita Shirreffs, and a step-granddaughter.
In all, Mr. Shirreffs’s horses won 596 races and nearly $59 million. His final victory came last month with Westwood, in the San Pascual Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia. His last Triple Crown horse was Baeza — the beneficiary of carrot smoothies from Mr. Shirreffs and his staff — who finished third in last year’s Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
When Mr. Shirreffs was interviewed by “60 Minutes” before the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic, he told the correspondent Bob Simon that he conversed with Zenyatta. Mr. Simon asked what he said to her.
Mr. Shirreffs: “You’re doing great, you’re the best ever, thank you for everything you’ve given me.”
He said the horse reacted with a “kind” expression.
“You have a feeling that she’s actually understanding,” he said.
“Maybe she is,” Mr. Simon said.
“Yeah,” Mr. Shirreffs said, “you have to believe it.”
Richard Sandomir, an obituaries reporter, has been writing for The Times for more than three decades.
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