Shirreffs Houses String at Del Mar

Trainer John Shirreffs has 25 horses stabled at Del Mar for the Bing Crosby meeting. That's 25 more than his combined total for the first two fall meets.

           

What's up with that?

           

"I thought it would be a good change for the horses," said Shirreffs, best known as the conditioner for 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta. "There's a lot of (training-time) traffic at Santa Anita. It's quiet and nice here."

           

As he spoke, Shirreffs was standing in the seven-furlong chute as some of his horses, and those of other trainers were waiting for the signal that the track was to be reopened for the second training session of the morning. It was Friday, the opening day of the meeting.

           

"What are there, 20-30 horses? And half of them are ponies," Shirreffs said. At a similar time during the summer meeting, or at Santa Anita Park, the numbers would be many times greater than that.

           

Shirreffs is among the latest to have been convinced to give major fall presence at Del Mar a try by racing secretary David Jerkens.

           

"I tell everybody I talk to about it," Jerkens said. "It's still Del Mar. The weather's good, the track's good. It's a great place to be. I can understand a lot of trainers have families, kids in school, and commitments in (Los Angeles) and it won't work for them. But if the situation makes it possible, you can't beat being here."      

 

Shirreffs saddled Dark Energy to victory in the first race Nov. 12. He has that win, and a second, from two starters at the meeting.