Trainer John Shirreffs’ steady approach has him back at Kentucky Derby with Skinner

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — John Shirreffs has been training horses for more than four decades. He doesn’t have a big stable and averages fewer than 100 starts a year. He’s the personification of slow and steady.

So it was no surprise that he wasn’t going to bring his 3-year-old colt Skinner to the Kentucky Derby without being assured he would make the starting gate. He was at the top of the list if a spot in the 20-horse field opened up but that wasn’t good