Grade 1 winner Baeza will head East to join the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, co-owner Robert Clay of Grandview Equine confirmed Feb. 16. The move, first reported by Daily Racing Form, comes just days after the passing of his former trainer, John Shirreffs, who died Feb. 12 at age 80.
"Lee (Searing of co-owner C R K Stables) and I conferred over the weekend, and John and Bill were friends. Bill trained the mother (Puca), and I trained with Bill. It was sort of right there in front of us," Clay said. "It was a pretty easy decision to make."
The 4-year-old colt, campaigned by C R K Stable and Grandview Equine, was third in last year's Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1), and second in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2), all behind Mott's star of the barn, 2025 Horse of the Year, Sovereignty. He notched a well-deserved top-flight win in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) near the end of his sophomore season.
When asked about the possibility of racing against Sovereignty, Clay said they had discussed it with Mott.
"If they have to run against each other, they do. If they've got opportunities to not run against each other, they'll probably take them," Clay said.
"We've all got the Breeders' Cup in mind, so if they're healthy, they'll run against each other there, and they may very well run against each other in another race. But there are some races out there where they don't have to run against each other time-wise."
The half brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage and 2024 Belmont Stakes winner Dornoch has a record of 2-3-2 from nine career starts, and earnings of $1,643,500.
