Shirreffs Is Salman’s Trainer for Now, Replacing Hassinger

DEL MAR — John Shirreffs, whose job as a private trainer ended after the death of Marshall Naify of 505 Farms earlier this year, has replaced Alex Hassinger Jr. as at least the interim trainer for another high-profile outfit, Prince Ahmed Salman’s Thoroughbred Corp.

As the Thoroughbred Corp. horses struggled, there had been rumors in the spring that Hassinger might be replaced. Salman began sending some horses to Bob Baffert, the three-time Eclipse Award winner.

But Hassinger won the Kentucky Derby Trial with Performing Magic in April, and Richard Mulhall, the general manager for Salman, discounted the reports.

Mulhall couldn’t be reached Friday.

Two horses scheduled to be saddled by Hassinger today at Del Mar were scratched, and Ingrid Fermin, one of the Del Mar stewards, said that the reason was a trainer change.

Shirreffs confirmed that both Hassinger and his assistant, Mike Chambers, had left Salman’s employ.

Reached at his home Friday, Hassinger said: “I resigned Thursday night, but other than that, I have no comment. I don’t have any immediate plans.”

Since the death of Naify, and an ensuing dispersal sale by his heirs, Shirreffs has been forming a public stable.

“I’m helping out right now,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen at this point.”

At a Naify dispersal sale last Saturday in Pomona, 93 horses were sold for $18.2 million. Some, including those bought by Sid Craig and the Visionary Corp., a small group of unnamed investors, were reportedly going to be trained by Shirreffs. One purchase, David Copperfield, was bought by the Visionary group for $2.6 million.

Mulhall told the Daily Racing Form that Salman was not one of the Visionary partners.

Hassinger, 37, trained Anees for Salman. Anees won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and was voted champion 2-year-old male. But this year Anees was fourth in the Santa Anita Derby, and after running 13th in the Kentucky Derby, underwent surgery for bone chips in his ankles. He is expected to return to training in the fall.

Hassinger’s bad luck with Anees was typical for the stable in recent months. Thoroughbred Corp. won only three races this winter at Santa Anita, won only two at the recently completed Hollywood Park meet and, for the year, had seven wins in 71 starts and purses of about $840,000. The last horse Hassinger saddled, Sharp Eyes, ran third in a race on Thursday at Del Mar.

Hassinger was hired by Thoroughbred Corp. in March of 1999 after the firing of Wally Dollase.

Dollase sued Thoroughbred Corp. over the remainder of his contract, but both sides have been reluctant to discuss the matter. He said Friday that the litigation is ongoing.

Hassinger was the trainer of Allen Paulson’s Cigar, at a time when the colt struggled as a grass horse in California. Cigar was sent to trainer Bill Mott in New York, switched to running on dirt and won horse-of-the-year titles in 1995 and ’96.

Hassinger also trained Paulson’s Eliza, the champion 2-year-old filly in 1992. The nephew of John Gaines, a Kentucky breeder who virtually invented the Breeders’ Cup, Hassinger eventually left Paulson and moved to Kentucky to train. He had trouble forming a stable there, and was down to just a few horses.

He was on the verge of quitting as a trainer when the call from the Thoroughbred Corp. came last year.

Hassinger also won last year’s Derby Trial with Patience Game, becoming only the fourth trainer to win that race in successive years.

Besides Chambers, another Thoroughbred Corp. assistant trainer has been Gary Stevens--Salman’s contract rider, who remained with the stable when his arthritic knees forced his retirement from riding on Dec. 26.

Stevens has been exercising horses recently for Hassinger and other trainers and is considering a return to riding.

Salman, 42, is a member of the ruling family of Saudi Arabia. He runs horses in his homeland as well as in England and North America.

In 1999, the Thoroughbred Corp. ranked third in England and sixth in North America with combined purses totaling more than $6 million. Under Mulhall, Salman developed a farm and training center in Bradbury, not far from Santa Anita.

*

Jockey Corey Nakatani, who rode four winners on opening day at Del Mar Wednesday, was unseated by his mount, Vinka, after Friday’s sixth race.

Nakatani suffered a sprained right shoulder and may have fractured his right thumb. The injuries will prevent him from traveling to Saratoga to ride Chilukki, the favorite in today’s $250,000 Test Stakes.

Vinka, who collapsed, got back up but did not appear to be injured, but two other horses, Singing Lite in the third race and Sailing Home in the sixth, suffered breakdowns on the grass and were euthanized. They are the second and third racing fatalities through the first three days of the meet.

Horse Racing Notes

Euro Empire, ridden by Alex Solis for trainer Marcelo Polanco, sprung a 9-1 upset in the $125,000 California Thoroughbred Breeders Assn. Stakes for fillies at Del Mar, beating 3-10 favorite Notable Career by 1 3/4 lengths. Three weeks ago, Euro Empire finished fourth, beaten by five lengths, as Notable Career won the Landaluce Stakes at Hollywood Park. Euro Empire’s time for 5 1/2 furlongs was 1:03 3/5. . . . Eight horses, including probable favorite Dark Moondancer, have been entered for Sunday’s $400,000 Eddie Read Handicap at Del Mar. Dark Moondancer will carry high weight of 123 pounds and break from the inside post. The field in in post-position order: Dark Moondancer, Sunshine Street, Sharan, Lord Smith, Chester House, Gold Nugget, Ladies Din and Falcon Flight. Ladies Din, second to Joe Who in last year’s Read, also ran third in the Del Mar Handicap. In 1998, Ladies Din swept the three grass races for 3-year-olds at Del Mar. “It might be the softer grass that helps this horse down here,” said Julio Canani, who trains Ladies Din. “For some reason, certain horses can run better on certain tracks. But I know Ladies Din has been training great and I look for him to run a big race.”. . . Nine days after the death of Allen Paulson, a horse he bred, Hap, won the $150,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga. Hap, a son of Theatrical and Committed, raced in the colors of Paulson’s widow, Madeleine, in beating Inexplicable by 1 1/4 lengths. Hap, trained by Bill Mott and ridden by Jerry Bailey, was the 7-2 favorite as he won his first stakes race. Val’s Prince, whose owners are still in a legal battle, ran for the first time since finishing 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Turf in November and finished 10th.