Career Is Stalled No More

Stall No. 101 in Barn 55 South at Hollywood Park looked no different from many others in the stable of trainer John Shirreffs on Sunday.

Only it was empty. Giacomo, who makes his home there, is gone. The gray son of Holy Bull is still in Louisville, having made a successful journey to Kentucky, where he pulled the second-biggest upset in Kentucky Derby history as a 50-1 shot Saturday.

Considered a colt of much promise after posting his first win (a 10-length victory last fall at Santa Anita) and finishing a close second to the unbeaten Declan’s Moon in the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 18, Giacomo put everything together in the world’s most famous race. Thus, his trip almost certainly will continue to Baltimore. The Preakness awaits on May 21 at Pimlico.

When the colt returns to Inglewood, he won’t find anything different about his stall. According to Shirreffs, there are no plans to do anything other than to refresh the bedding. A placard on the wall outside the stall simply says “Giacomo” and lists his sire (Holy Bull) and dam (Set Them Free).

Shirreffs was back at work at 5:30 a.m. Sunday at Hollywood Park after flying home from Louisville on the private plane of Giacomo’s owners, Jerry and Ann Moss, Saturday night. He said he had received congratulations from numerous well wishers.

“Everybody I’ve bumped into has congratulated me,” he said. “Everybody’s been supportive and very happy. I had 24 messages on my cellphone. I saw [trainer] David Hofmans and he told me he was very happy and I saw [trainer] Jack Van Berg on his pony this morning and he talked to me about his Preakness experiences.”

(Van Berg won the 1987 Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Alysheba before the colt’s Triple Crown hopes were dashed by Bet Twice in the Belmont Stakes.)

While Shirreffs was struggling to see the race from his vantage point at Churchill Downs, a small group of stable employees and Dawn Hunkin, Shirreffs’ veterinarian for the last five years, gathered to watch the race on television in the trainer’s stable office.

When there are 20 in the field, it is difficult to follow almost any horse during the course of the Derby and such was the case for those with a rooting interest in Giacomo. Good thing he was wearing a certain piece of equipment.

“If he didn’t have that white shadow roll [on his nose], I don’t think we would have seen him,” said Sabina Seibel, a jockey and Giacomo’s exercise rider for some seven months.

Despite Giacomo’s recent failures -- he had been beaten four times at odds of less than 4-1 since his maiden win -- Seibel never lost faith.

“He just didn’t have any luck,” she said. “He was always right there and this time he got his trip and he showed his heart.

“He’s always trained well, is very easy to get along with and recently he has really matured and been improving all along.”

Before she attended a Kentucky Derby party in Westchester, Seibel -- who was aboard when the colt worked six furlongs in 1:11 4/5 on May 1 in his last local drill before he was shipped east on Wednesday -- demonstrated some financial support for Giacomo, betting $100 to win. The wager turned out better than another she made on the same race. She also put $50 to win on Noble Causeway, who finished 14th under jockey Gary Stevens. Seibel’s $5,480 profit was the biggest in her betting life.

Meanwhile, Jack Hunkin, who is two months old, had a memorable first Kentucky Derby in the arms of his mother Dawn.

Before watching the Derby, Hunkin was concerned she might drop her son in the excitement. When Giacomo started to rally in the stretch, Hunkin began jumping up and down.

“I was afraid I was going to drop him and then I almost squished him,” she joked. “It would have been funny to have a camera on all of us in the office. After he won, there was a lot of hugging and screaming.”

Alejandro Lopez, who grooms Giacomo, and stable foreman Salvador Lopez -- no relation -- were among those who saw the Derby in Shirreffs’ office.

“Alejandro was very happy, he was jumping up and down and saying, ‘Giacomo, Giacomo,’ ” said Salvador Lopez, who bet $2 across the board on the new star of Barn 55 South.

Shirreffs, who also won the Hawthorne on Saturday at Hollywood Park when favored Hollywood Story overcame a near spill on the first turn to win going away, didn’t totally commit Giacomo to the Preakness on Sunday morning. The horse will walk and rest for a few days at Churchill Downs before shipping.

“We’ll wait a couple of days and see how he is,” he said, adding that he’ll head east to rejoin the horse sometime this week.

“I’m not that familiar with Pimlico. I’ve never been there before.”

The Mosses were at Hollywood Park on Sunday afternoon to see D’este, a 4-year-old filly they have with Shirreffs, run fourth in a $55,000 allowance race.

In a brief ceremony in the winner’s circle afterward, track management presented Jerry Moss with some champagne and a birthday cake. Moss, a commissioner on the California Horse Racing Board, turned 70 Sunday.

“We’re still letting it all sink in,” he said. “We knew we had a good horse and he’s been conditioned beautifully by John. It’s great to share this with everybody. Everybody in California deserves a piece of this.”