Legendary trainer John Shirreffs died in his sleep at age 80 in California, according to the Daily Racing Forum.
Shirreffs was based out of Southern California and guided several horses to success, including Zenyatta.
Shirreffs has played a role in winning the 2005 Kentucky Derby with Giacomo and three Breeders’ Cup championships with Zenyatta and Life Is Sweet during his career.
The horses under his watch have won 589 races in 3,589 starts with more than $58,581,916 in career earnings, according to Equibase.
Shirreffs remained active as a trainer with more than 30 horses in training, including Baeza and Westwood, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.
‘He was a fixture at Santa Anita Park throughout his career and his legacy as a caring horseman will remain embedded in the fabric of our history,’ the racetrack posted on its Facebook page. ‘Every horse who races at Santa Anita must first pass by the statue of John’s greatest trainee, the wonderful mare Zenyatta.’
He spent the weekend in Florida to inspect 2-year-old horses that belonged to Lee and Susan Searing.
Lee Searing told the Daily Racing Forum that “Shirreffs was fighting an illness” during the recent trip.