"No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it."
—George Washington Carver
The size-12 Ariat barn boots stood neatly paired beneath the utilitarian metal desk. In a corner, their companion Hilfiger duck boots were stored, caked with mud from the most recent rain.
A pair of scratched reading glasses sat on the cluttered desktop alongside a Santa Anita condition book opened to the races of Feb. 15, with a maiden special race for 4- and 5-year-olds circled alongside the notation, "Silent Way."
Two tubes of Gastrogard equine ulcer treatment shared a corner of the desk with a collection of essential oils in small bottles. There was a red canvas pouch containing a GoPro camera. A roll of gauze. A box of Kinesio Gold adhesive tape. A turquoise "clicker" hanging from a nail above the desk.
Pieces of a man.
The death of John Shirreffs, at home in the wee, dark hours of Feb. 12, once again placed mortality squarely on the table—not just for members of his generation, but for anyone who surrenders each night to the embrace of sleep reasonably confident of awakening to another day. That is to say, all of us.
John was 80, an old soul young in spirit who was more conceptual artist than Thoroughbred trainer. Horses were his canvass, upon which he painted a series of cherished masterpieces given names like Giacomo, Manistique, Life Is Sweet, After Market, Tiago, Honor A.P., Tarlow, Yankee Gentleman, Hollywood Story, Express Train, and dozens more who benefited from the touch of a man who respected their individuality while crawling inside their skin.
"He's very strong-willed, and not affected by a lot of stuff," Shirreffs said of Madeo, his winner of the 2008 Del Mar Derby (G2T). "He's the kind of colt you really don't have to think about much, because there's no reward in worrying about Madeo."
Skinner was a pricey Curlin colt who made noise like a classic contender and then regressed. Shirreffs thought a stiff work in company would bring him around.
"At the eighth pole he said, 'I'm done. I don't want any part of this,'" Shirreffs said. "The next time we took him to the track, all he did was grind his teeth and wash out. I read something once about how horses think. Of course, they don't really 'think' as we know it, but their main thought is, 'Am I safe?' After that one training session, Skinner no longer had any faith in us. It took a long time for us to get his confidence back and feel good about things again."
In his final start for Shirreffs, Skinner won the 2024 Native Diver Stakes (G3) at Del Mar.
Manistique required the kind of coddling only a mother would give a precious child. Among other things, the majestic black filly refused to clean her plate.
"Obviously, you try to encourage them to eat by putting things in their feed," Shirreffs said. "Maybe carrots, maybe apples, maybe she wants more salt. In the end, if that doesn't really work, maybe they'll be curious and eat out of my hand. You want them to want to spend time with you, to believe in the people around them, and not have any fears. When they see a person, you want them to simply take a deep breath, like, 'Oh, this looks like a nice guy. And he's going to feed me.'"
During those indelible days when Shirreffs was synonymous with his most famous racehorse, we clever scribes took to referring to the trainer as the "Zen Master" without understanding just how creatively John was applying the seven principles to his craft—simplicity, austerity, subtlety, naturalness, asymmetry, surprise, and tranquility. When it came to the handling of Zenyatta, they all pertained.
Shirreffs also reveled in the enigmatic. Ask him what time it is and he might reply, "Where?" or "You mean now?"
"We'll need a lot of luck," Shirreffs said the day before running Baeza against Journalism and Citizen Bull in the 2025 Santa Anita Derby (G1). "So, I'll be looking for it wherever I can. If I see a homeless person on the way to the track, I'll be sure to stop. You can never have too much good karma."
READ: Grade 1 Winner Baeza Transferred to Mott
There were pictures on the walls of John's office, reminders as much as mementoes. Zenyatta and Manistique were there, of course, and Harmonious, the Martin Wygod filly whose name represented nothing less than the mission statement of the stable. A special space was given to the 2017 Santa Anita Derby, in which the Shirreffs colts Gormley and Royal Mo, both owned by Jerry Moss, finished first and third.
"When I first worked for John, I rubbed two horses—Manistique and the stable pony," said Mario Espinoza, one of the lifers in the Shirreffs orbit.
Espinoza went on to groom many of the barn's very best, including Life Is Sweet and Zenyatta. Espinoza's wife, Carmen Zamora, had the task of walking Zenyatta two hours every day before Mario began his work with the big mare.
"One day I got up early, and all I wanted to do was have a shower and breakfast before going to the barn," Espinoza recalled. "Then I get a call from John. 'Get over here now. Zenyatta's running around in her stall! Nobody can catch her but you.'
"So I get there, go into the stall, and in maybe 10 minutes she lays down and goes to sleep," Espinoza said. "John goes, 'Look at that. You've spoiled her.' I said, 'No, boss. It's you who created a monster!'"
Espinoza's audience there in the empty shed row laughed, because they knew both statements were true. Among them was Shandra Hudson, who spent years on the stable gate at Hollywood Park ushering pilgrims toward the Shirreffs barn for an audience with Zenyatta. Now she was helping attend to the well-being of the suddenly rudderless stable crew and the disposition of worthwhile items, per the wishes of John's wife, Dottie.
"What about this one?" Hudson said, indicating a black and white photo hanging on the far wall depicting a man sitting by a stream in which two horses are soaking their legs. "There's writing on the back."
It read, in John's printing, "Henry Freitas manager of Loma Rica Ranch with Most Host and his pony 'Sparkie' at the creek by the training track. Picture given to me by Dr. Robbins."
The note was signed by Shirreffs, and the reference was to Dr. Jack Robbins, the industry leader and part-owner of Most Host, the California gelding who shocked Damascus in the 1968 Charles H. Strub Stakes.
Shirreffs worked for Freitas at Loma Rica Ranch before heading to the racetrack as a trainer. Everything that he learned from that day forward prepared the ground for his handling of Zenyatta.
"While she was here it was almost like having Sandy Koufax in the bullpen," Shirreffs once said, alluding to the often unhittable Dodgers star of the 1960s. "No matter what was happening, whenever you led Zenyatta over you felt like you could win."
Upon the retirement of Zenyatta, after 19 wins and a single narrow defeat over their five-year relationship, the trainer had to deal with a difficult goodbye.
"I learned that lesson when I worked with yearlings at Loma Rica," Shirreffs said. "They came in, and you really bonded with them. Groomed every hair. Spent hours and hours helping them learn what to do. And then, one day, they were loaded on the vans, and that was it. They were gone. As a trainer you have to accept that. You can only hope that while they're with you, you are able to teach them something. Something that has helped them along."
training and schooling at Keeneland
On the office floor beside the door, a 35-pound container of Mrs. Pastures "cookies for horses" sat nearly empty. Foreman Frank Leal and groom Miguel Morales were sorting through the variety of therapeutic gadgets Shirreffs collected, always adding new-age technology to his old school curriculum. Just outside the office, a bright orange wall box with the monogram "LSB" stood in sharp contrast to the remaining royal blue trappings of the Shirreffs motif. Hudson explained its provenance.
"It came from Laz Barrera to Bill Spawr, who gave it to me when he retired," she said.
Hall of Famer Barrera kept a West Coast barn for many years before his death in 1991. Shirreffs worked for the widely respected Spawr, trainer of champion Amazombie.
"I thought John should have it," said Hudson. "Something like that, with a lot of history attached, meant a lot to him."
Hudson was quiet for a moment, then offered the hard part out loud.
"He said I could have it when he retired."
