LOS ANGELES — Trainer John Shirreffs has accomplished a lot in more than four decades in the business. He won the Kentucky Derby in 2005 with 50-1 long shot Giacomo. He won the Breeders' Cup Classic with perhaps the greatest female horse of all time when Zenyatta beat the boys in 2009. He's taken the Santa Anita Derby three times.
But, there is one thing the 76-year-old Vietnam veteran has never won — the Santa Anita Handicap. He hopes to change that Saturday when he takes the 8-5 favorite Express Train to post in the Grade 1 $650,000 race.
The Santa Anita Handicap, better know by its nickname the Big 'Cap, is one of six graded stakes worth $2.45 million on one of Santa Anita's three biggest race days of its six-month season. Also on the card is the Grade 2 $400,000 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds. It's essentially a win-and-you're-in Kentucky Derby prep race for everyone except trainer Bob Baffert ... for now.
