Page 8 - December 2006 The Game

8 The Game, December 2006 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Shipman: Captain of His Own Destiny
Shipman winning at Woodbine on August 16 Michael Burns Photo - courtesy of WEG
When the six-year-old horse, Shipman, was named Sprinter of the Year at the annual Fort Erie Awards ceremony, the most surprised person in the room was his owner Steve Chircop.
“When they called his name out I was so proud,” says Chircop buoyantly, “It was almost as if it was my own kid. I never imagined in a thousand years that I could buy this horse for $5000 and win Champion Sprinter with him.”
Chircop is only 22 years old and he may actually be the youngest owner to ever have a horse win a Fort Erie championship. That he ended up owning Shipman in the first place has a lot to do with Chircop’s impetuous nature. Seems he was at Woodbine in October, 2005 and...
“I decided that day that I wasn’t betting. All I had was a program,” reports Chircop, “But every horse I would have bet won. So I bought a Form, saw it was two minutes to post at Fort Erie and I see Shipman in for $5000 and I thought this horse can’t be beat. I ran to the ATM at the track, pulled out some money and I bet him to win and he came second.”
Most normal people would have been soured on the horse after that experience, but when Chircop realized that nobody had claimed Shipman from that race, he used his connections to make an offer.
Chircop grooms for Tino Attard, who is his uncle (Attard’s wife Carmen is the
sister of Godfrey, Chircop’s father). Immediately after the Fort Erie race, he collared his cousin Kevin Attard., also a trainer.
“I told Kevin, ‘I like this horse. If you see Mike De Paulo, see if he would like to sell him.’”
Turns out Shipman was
for sale. Chircop came up with the $5000 and, the next night, Shipman was in a Tino Attard stall at Woodbine. Chircop may be young, but he sure knows how to read a racing form.
“He was dropping from ten at Woodbine,” he says, explaining why Shipman looked like a good deal, “He’d just got beat two lengths. He used to be a good horse. He was stakes placed and ran against horses like Wando and Mobil.”
Talk about instant gratification. Shipman won a race six days after his change of scenery, scoring in a $5000 claim race, and with the winner’s cheque for $6500, he paid
for himself with a couple of bales of hay on top.
In 2006, Shipman opened his season with two losses at Woodbine, so Chircop took him back to Fort Erie in search of easier company. Shipman loved the change of scenery, putting together four wins, and two seconds. In the middle of all that, he even popped into Woodbine in August to score a half-length
victory at five furlongs in $10,000 claiming company.
It was his work at Fort Erie though, that earned Shipman his season-ending award. On July 30, he won in allowance $5000 company at five furlongs and did the same on September 19. On October 1, he sealed the deal with a brave front-running effort to win the Thoroughbred Niagara Cup at six furlongs in the mud. Clearly a five furlong specialist, this was Shipman’s first win in19 tries at six panels. The purse was $30,000;
Shipman’s share was $18,000.
Chircop points to a second place finish in the Don Valliere
Memorial Cup at Fort Erie that proves how fast and tough Shipman is.
“If you look at the splits, you can see they went 21:4 and he was off the pace by two and half lengths, then they reached the half in 44:2 and now he’s on the lead, so he went the second quarter in about flat, ” he says, sounding every bit the proud parent, “He gave it up to Bullish Executive who came from way out of it. Still he got $6000 for coming in second.”
Veteran Daniel David has been aboard Shipman for the horse’s last seven races. Chircop says there isn’t usually too much in the way of pre-race strategy.
“I always ask Daniel before the race. He says he’ll leave it up to the horse to let him know when he’s ready to roll.”
Chircop has earned a diploma in Business Administration from Humber College, but it seems the only business he wants to be in is horse racing. He’s in a unique situation; with Shipman he’s the owner and his uncle Tino is the trainer, but Chircop is also the groom. That all works out great, insists Chircop.
“Once I got the horse, I fell in love with him. He’s such a kind horse. As owner/groom, I can spoil my horse, give him candies all the time and play with him when the day is done. The horse absolutely loves it. You can tell when a horse is happy. When the horse is winning races, he starts to get his confidence back.”
Continued Next Page
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