John Shirreffs, LI high school graduate and horse trainer whose Giacomo won 2005 Kentucky Derby, dies at 80

Years before his trainee Giacomo shocked the world, winning the 2005 Kentucky Derby at 50-1, long before he offered a Guinness to the quirky but undeniable Zenyatta en route to 19 consecutive victories and a ground-breaking win in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, thoroughbred horse trainer John A. Shirreffs brought a high-strung 3-year-old filly to Saratoga to run in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes.

This was 1998; the horse, Manistique — named for a town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. And outside of California racing circles, Shirreffs was little-known; his training methods — already considered odd by some, maybe eccentric — even less so.

Hunting a story, longtime turf writer Michael Veitch, now the historian for the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, approached Shirreffs one morning at the Saratoga Race Course.

He wanted to ask the man about his horse.  

"He pointed to this great big maple tree," Veitch said this week, recalling the moment. There, Shirreffs had Manistique, and her handler, "inspecting" that tree." John said, 'We don't have trees like this at Santa Anita. She [Manistique] noticed it when we got here, so I thought ... "

As Veitch, who later became good friends with Shirreffs, said in a phone interview: "If you want to know what made John Shirreffs great, that was it. He was his own brand, did things many trainers wouldn't do. But he was just so dialed in.

"He had that sixth sense about a horse's needs. And that intuition, it's rare."

Born in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on June 1, 1945, a 1964 graduate of Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, a Vietnam War U.S. Marine, Shirreffs died Feb. 12 at his home in Arcadia, California. Survived by his wife, Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs, he was 80. 

It was on Long Island that Shirreffs first began a love affair that would see him get his thoroughbred training license in 1978.

His father, John, grew up in Garden City; his mother, Maryjane McLaren Ford, in a 17th Century home in Port Washington. 

His maternal grandmother, Dorothy Grant Ford, a one-time correspondent for The New York Times, founded the Port Washington Reporter and a prohibition-era bookshop called "The Booklegger."

And, though he often spent time at a family farm in Neufield, New Hampshire, it was at stables in Great Neck where Shirreffs, at age 12, began as a hand — shoveling manure in exchange for riding lessons.

A glimpse into how Shirreffs was raised is evident in an April 2, 1957, article in Newsday.

That story detailed how two neighborhood teens, fooling with a toy cannon, accidentally fired .45-caliber slugs through the wall of the Shirreffs home — lodging in a couch not far from where Shirreffs, sister Christina and brother James were playing.

Appearing in a Mineola courtroom, the article said Shirreffs' father, a pilot for Eastern Airlines, asked charges against the boys be dropped, telling the judge: "I don't think they'll ever do it again."

The judge called the elder Shirreffs "a remarkable person" for making the request — then tossed the charges against the teens

Shirreffs had just 596 training victories from 3,589 starts, though horses he trained amassed more than $58.5 million in earnings.

On Thursday, Shirreffs was named a 2026 finalist for the thoroughbred Hall of Fame, along with trainers Christophe Clement, Kenneth G. McPeek, H. Graham Motion, Doug F. O'Neill and John W. Sadler.

Others have far more career wins: Steve Asmussen holds the all-time North American mark with 11,145 victories, according to Equibase; Todd Pletcher (5,948), D. Wayne Lukas (4,953) and Bob Baffert (3,569) and others have win totals that dwarf those by Shirreffs.

Communications director for the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Brien Bouyea said this week: "You have to believe he'll eventually get in, though it's a shame he won't be here to see it when he does."

Though Bouyea only knew Shirreffs to say hello, he recalled how during summer meets at Saratoga Shirreffs often came to the museum "to read old chart books" on horses, studying bloodlines and records and such. 

Shirreffs trainees won more than 100 graded stakes — including the Derby and three wins in the Breeders' Cup.

He won the 2022 Santa Anita Handicap with Express Train, the 2021 Hollywood Derby with Beyond Brilliant. He trained Blind Luck to the 2010 Kentucky Oaks. Manistique, who went 11-1-1 in 15 starts, earning $1.3 million, won her first three races by a combined 31 lengths — including a 10-length win in the Hollywood Oaks before finishing third in the 1998 Alabama. 

His last big horse, Baeza, finished third to Sovereignty and Journalism in the 2025 Kentucky Derby at 12-1.

But Shirreffs was best-known for training Giacomo and half brother Tiago, winner of the 2007 Santa Anita Derby.

And, of course, for his work with the incomparable Hall of Famer Zenyatta, now age 21, who went 19-1-0 in 20 starts, the first mare to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, before losing her final race to Blame by a head in the 2010 Classic.

Owned by record producer Jerry Moss, named for the Police album "Zenyatta Mondatta," Zenyatta, a dark bay mare described as "kind and curious," was, during her racing days, as eager to "grab candy from a kid trackside" as she was to win, Veitch said.

Shirreffs stuck cotton in Zenyatta's ears to keep her calm. He claimed to give her an occasional Guinness.

A $60,000 yearling, Zenyatta earned $7.3 million.

"If fate could have put Zenyatta and any trainer together, fate would've put Zenyatta together with John Shirreffs — and vice versa," Veitch said. "That's how perfect that combination was. John was an extraordinarily knowledgeable horseman. He knew his horses, knew how to reach them, knew what made them tick ... But, more than that he was a gentleman. He was kind."

As Veitch said: "I can't imagine anyone in racing who knew John who isn't sad he's gone."

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.