SHIRREFFS ISSUE 14.qxd:Jerkins feature.qxd
13/10/09
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JOHN SHIRREFFS
Among the adoring fans coming to meet Zenyatta on the mor ning of the Hirsch are Bo Derek, her sister Ker ry Perez and niece MacKenzie, shown here with Zenyatta and John Shir reffs
Having previously won the Kentucky Derby with Giacomo, media-shy John Shirreffs is back in the spotlight with his unbeaten filly Zenyatta. Frances J. Karon meets a man genuinely unaffected by fame and who lives for his horses and the pleasure their success gives his owners and fans alike
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STEADY stream of admirers maneuvers their way to the backstretch, hopeful for a glimpse at “the big horse.” Her accommodating trainer greets them all with a friendly smile. John Shirreffs wears the mantle of Zenyatta’s keeper graciously; there’s no grandstanding in this shedrow. Onlookers gather by the sawhorses that double as a saddlerack – high-withered Zenyatta’s tall-tree saddle is on there somewhere – and names of racing’s acclaimed greats float through the air, because a horse like Zenyatta brings that out in people. But two days before the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes, in which Shirreffs trainees Life is Sweet and Zenyatta will run as an uncoupled entry, he doesn’t concern himself with such talk. Getting to know the trainer during this very stressful time promised to be a crash course in Shirreffs-ology, an opportunity to observe the man when the world is on his shoulders. John Shirreffs: Raw and Uncensored. Instead, the world is sitting squarely on Atlas’ shoulders, and Shirreffs, well, he’s lounging in a hammock in his barn at Del Mar Racetrack. Steve Willard, champion Zenyatta’s exercise rider, provides the obvious caption: “We’re a very laid back barn here.” Nerves are kept to a minimum as the Hirsch, and five-year-old Zenyatta’s unbeaten record, looms. “You know how streaks are. They do end.” Shirreffs laughs. “It would be sad, but it happens.” As for the pressure, “I try not to think about it,” he says. “I learned a little trick a long time ago. I give myself a job: I’m putting the saddle on. So I never think about the race, I just think about putting the saddle on. I know it sounds silly, but…” As a boy of ten or 11, Kansas-born ISSUE 14 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 13