Baeza changes hands: she will go with Bill Mott following the death of John Shirreffs

One of the best colts of the last season in the United States will now share a trainer with the star Soveregnty

Baeza will share a trainer with Sovereignty / ADAM COGLIANESE / NYRA

ARCADIA, California (Special for Turf Diario).- The realignment of pieces in the American elite adds a high-stakes move. The G1 winner Baeza will travel East to join the barn of Bill Mott, a decision that comes just days after the passing of his trainer, John Shirreffs, who died on February 12 at the age of 80.

The news, confirmed by Robert Clay (Grandview Equine), co-owner of the bay along with C R K Stable, has both a sporting and human background. “Lee Searing and I spoke over the weekend. John and Bill were friends. Bill trained the mother (Puca) and I also worked with him. The decision was practically right in front of us,” Clay explained. “It was fairly straightforward.”

At 4 years old, Baeza is already a consolidated name in the recent classic generation. Third in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and the Belmont Stakes (G1) last year, second in the Jim Dandy (G2), and winner of the Pennsylvania Derby (G1), his campaign had a common denominator: repeatedly facing the champion Sovereignty (Into Mischief), Mott’s star and the 2025 Horse of the Year.

The possibility of both sharing a stable and eventually facing each other is not a taboo. “If they have to run against each other, they will. And if there are options to avoid it, we’ll probably take them,” Clay acknowledged. The horizon, as in so many cases of this magnitude, points to the Breeders’ Cup.

“We all have the Breeders’ Cup in mind. If they are healthy, they could face each other there. Perhaps in another race as well. But there are races on the calendar where they can be separated by dates,” he added.

Baeza, a half-brother to 2023 Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) and 2024 Belmont victor Dornoch (Good Magic), carries a record of 2-3-2 in nine starts and earnings exceeding 1.6 million dollars. Beyond the numbers, he now represents a new strategic piece in Mott’s powerful machinery.

The move not only reconfigures the sporting scene; it also symbolizes continuity. The friendship between Shirreffs and Mott, and the previous link with the horse’s maternal family, give the transition an air of coherence amidst the change.

In a barn that already houses the best horse of the moment, Baeza will seek his own space. And the autumn schedule could offer an internal duel that, if it materializes, would have the scent of a major classic.