Baffert to become trainer of Masochistic

ARCADIA, Calif. – Masochistic, a multiple-stakes-winning sprinter, will have a new trainer when he returns to the racetrack after a summertime rest.

Co-owner Will Shamlian said on Friday that Masochistic will be transferred from Ron Ellis to Bob Baffert. Masochistic is at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky and is expected to return to training at Santa Anita after the Del Mar summer meeting.

Shamlian said that he had a difference of opinion with Ellis on the direction of Masochistic’s career.

“We weren’t seeing eye to eye,” Shamlian said.

Masochistic is co-owned by Samantha Siegel, a longtime client of Ellis’s who continues to have horses in his stable.

Masochistic is winless in two starts this year, including a 13th in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard on May 6.

“He needed some time off after his last race,” Shamlian said.

Last fall, Masochistic finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, but was later disqualified from the purse because of the presence of a banned steroid. Ellis faces a possible suspension or fine for the positive. The case has been heard by Santa Anita stewards several times and is scheduled to be continued in July.

Shamlian said the positive test did not influence his decision to switch stables.

“That was an unfortunate situation,” Shamlian said.

Masochistic, 7, has won 8 of 16 starts and earned $857,550. A gelding, Masochistic began his career with A.C. Avila and was transferred to Ellis in early 2015. With Ellis, Masochistic won 4 of 10 starts, including the Grade 1 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita in June 2015.

“We had a lot of fun,” Shamlian said of Masochistic’s time with Ellis. “We won a Grade 1.”