ARCADIA, Calif. – Baeza, one of the nation’s leading 3-year-olds of 2025, will be transferred to a trainer based outside of California this month following the unexpected death on Thursday of trainer John Shirreffs, majority owner Lee Searing said on Friday. Speaking at Shirreffs’s barn on the Santa Anita backstretch, Searing said he plans to consult with Robert Clay, whose Grandview Equine owns a minority share of Baeza, before finalizing a decision. “Baeza is going back East,” Searing said. “Robert Clay and I will take a couple of days and do what’s best for the horse. I don’t know who” will train. Baeza was scheduled to have a workout at Santa Anita on Friday, but the exercise was postponed following the death of Shirreffs at the age of 80. :: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more. Baeza has won 2 of 9 starts and earned $1,643,500. He won the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby last September and was third in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes last spring. Baeza was sixth of nine in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1, finishing 9 1/2 lengths behind Forever Young. Baeza has had two three-furlong workouts since late January in preparation for a comeback in coming months. Searing said that, for Baeza’s 2026 campaign, “all the races will be back East – all but the Pacific Classic.” The Grade 1 Pacific Classic is worth $1 million and will be run at 1 1/4 miles at Del Mar on Aug. 22. The Pacific Classic is the richest annual race for older horses in California. Searing and his wife, Susan, race as CRK Stable, and had 12 horses with Shirreffs, Lee Searing said. A majority of those runners will be sent to trainer Peter Eurton, who has a stable at Santa Anita. Baeza will be temporarily based with Eurton. “We want to keep him going forward,” Eurton said on Friday of Baeza. For the Searings, Eurton will begin training the former Shirreffs runners Westwood, winner of the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 31 and a candidate for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 7; Tarkenton, a well-regarded Curlin colt who is a half-brother to Honor A. P., the winner of the 2020 Santa Anita Derby for the Searings and Shirreffs; and Deep Tracks, a 3-year-old Nyquist colt purchased for $1 million last year. Deep Tracks was third in his debut in a maiden race at six furlongs on Jan. 31. “I’ll have more horses in California,” Lee Searing said. The Searings and Shirreffs traveled to Florida last weekend to inspect a group of 28 2-year-olds in training owned by the couple. Upon his return to California, Shirreffs fell ill, Searing said. Shirreffs died in his sleep early Thursday, according to his friends and family. He was 80. Shirreffs, who won 596 races, was best known for winning the 2005 Kentucky Derby with Giacomo and for guiding the career of 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, who won 19 of 20 starts. Shirreffs had one horse entered at Santa Anita weekend – Silent Way in a maiden race on Sunday for the Searings. It was not immediately clear whether Silent Way will be allowed to race. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.