john shirreffs

The Clement L. Hirsch Stakes isn’t the only race that, when it comes up on the calendar, gets trainer John Sherriffs thinking about Zenyatta. The Hirsch, a Grade I $300,000 event that will be run for the 49th time on Sunday at Del Mar, was one of four stakes won multiple times by the great […]

Poised to top the $1-million mark in earnings, Paradise Woods tops a field of seven entered at Del Mar for Sunday’s Grade I $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff. A 5-year-old daughter of Union Rags owned by HS Stable and Pam and Marty […]

Trainer John Shirreffs’ Paradise Woods, fresh off a dominating 10 ½ length win, looms a complete standout in Saturday’s Grade II, $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita. For fillies and mares three and up, the Santa Maria has attracted a field of five at a mile and one sixteenth. Second, beaten 10 ½ lengths […]

Sent off as the 1-2 favorite in Saturday’s G2 Santa Margarita Stakes, Steven Sarkowsky and Martin and Pam Wygod’s Paradise Woods delivered on that potential with an open-lengths victory over La Force. The 5-year-old daughter of Union Rags, ridden by Mike Smith on behalf of trainer John Shirreffs, covered 1 1/8 miles over the fast […]

A multiple Grade I winner at three, but winless since September 2017, Paradise Woods, who will be making her third start for trainer John Shirreffs, heads a field of eight older fillies and mares going 1 1/8 miles in Saturday’s Grade II, $200,000 Santa Margarita Stakes at Santa Anita. Bred in Kentucky by the late […]

Mike Smith stunned the racing world in 2005 when he piloted Giacamo to a 50-1 upset in the Kentucky Derby, although it was no great surprise to him. If he wins the Kentucky Derby on Omaha Beach in less than two weeks, May 4 to be exact, it will have minimal shock value both in the […]

Dual Grade 1 winner Paradise Woods made her debut for new trainer John Shirreffs on Saturday, finishing fifth and last in the G2 Santa Monica Stakes at odds of 5-1. “It was hard to reach any conclusions,” Shirreffs told drf.com. “She didn’t break running and rushed up a little and got boxed in. That’s not her […]

A 3-year-old half-sister to 2018 Queen’s Plate winner Wonder Gadot, Hard Not To Love made her career debut in Saturday’s first race at Santa Anita Park. The Hard Spun filly has a distinguishing characteristic: she only has one eye. That didn’t stop her from winning the maiden special weight event by three lengths under Tiago […]

In what shapes up as a truly star-studded affair, Dream Tree, Escape Clause, Marley’s Freedom and Paradise Woods headline a field of seven older fillies and mares in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes at seven furlongs. Although she flopped as the 3-5 favorite in the opening day Grade 1 La Brea at the […]

Multiple Grade I winner Paradise Woods is scheduled to make her first start under the direction of trainer John Shirreffs in this Saturday’s Grade II Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita for older fillies and mares at seven furlongs. It would mark the first race in seven months for the five-year-old daughter of Union Rags […]