Justique, the Unveiling of a Star

In horse racing, it's an ultra-special win when your horse wins its first start. With Justice winning her first race on Sunday, July 31, at Del Mar Racetrack, she ran away with the win like a thief in broad daylight. She is a two-year-old daughter of Justify, the Triple Crown winner, who performed impressively in his quest for the Crown, out of Grazie Mille, the dam of Hollywood Derby winner Mo Town. Her trainer, John Shirreffs, credits his wife Dottie for encouraging the purchase of Justice at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $725,000. Thoroughbred Daily News calls her a "TDN Rising Star' after she inhaled her competition super impressively after a very slow start out of the starting gate. You can always support her by betting on her on Mostbet Turkiye.

Training

Training champions is certainly not foreign to John Shirreffs. He trained the great Zenyatta to one of the most successful careers in thoroughbred racing's history. Although Zenyatta did not make a two-year-old debut, I wanted to ask John about training young horses. In today's world, not all people have access to horses. Being exposed to working with horses is the only way to learn about them. I asked John how he was first introduced to horses. Raised in New York and New Hampshire, his father had his riding horse. His father's passion was riding and sailing. John would go to the stable where his father's horse was boarded, and it was there, mucking stalls in return for a ride on a horse, where John Shirreffs had his first introductions to learning about horses. He showed English as a young boy, spent time at the barn hanging out with kids with similar interests, cleaning tack, cleaning the stable, and riding horses. He thinks working with horses on a ranch or at the racetrack is essential. One must start to handle horses and observe how they are handled, to begin to get comfortable around them. Skipping ahead from his early days on the farm, breaking yearlings for roughly ten years, and figuratively, there is nothing easy about breaking yearlings, I asked John about his thoughts on training young horses.

The Thoroughbred horse's sole purpose in breeding and developing them is to race. They are bred to cover the ground over a long distance. Training a two-year-old is essential because their body needs to adapt to racing, and it's easier for the animal to start at a younger age than older. Just like our young Olympic athletes, take gymnasts, for example. Dominique Moceanu and Nadia Comaneci both became Gold Medal-winning gymnasts at the age of 14 years old. Any athletic endeavor requires practice. It's helpful for horses to learn their stride and adapt to the stresses put on their body. It makes them stronger and better, healthier athletes by building muscle and strengthening bones.

John Shirreffs

John Shirreffs enjoys training young horses. He tries to train the horse in the least amount possible and lets it train itself. Once he sees how the horse likes to prepare, he figures out what to do with the horse to help the horse train better. He was nominated to the Hall of Fame in Thoroughbred horse racing and won the Kentucky Derby with Giacomo in 2005. He has won the Breeder's Cup Classic with Zenyatta, the only female horse to win the race, along with winning countless other stake races across the country. He thinks it would be beneficial to horse racing to have an area at the racetrack where the public can interact with a horse and learn more about the animal. That is where the connection to horses is made, by meeting them close-up and personal.

Regarding Justice, John Shirreffs and her connections were ecstatic about her win. Hopefully, with the racing Gods on her side, we will see her in the Del Mar Debutante at the end of the meet if her connections see she is ready for it.