Searings part ways with trainer Sadler

ARCADIA, Calif. – Owners Lee and Susan Searing and trainer John Sadler have parted company after a 17-year relationship, Lee Searing and John Sadler said Sunday.

Lee Searing said all of his runners have been transferred to Peter Eurton.

With Sadler, the Searings won such races as the Grade 1 Santa Monica Stakes with Switch in 2011, the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes with Candy Boy in 2014, the 2006 Melair Stakes with She’s An Eleven, and the 2006 El Cajon Stakes with Cindago.

Switch was second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in 2010 and 2011. Candy Boy was 13th in the 2014 Kentucky Derby and later was second in the West Virginia Derby and third in the Pennsylvania Derby before finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last November. Candy Boy later was sold privately and finished fourth March 28 in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.

Sadler confirmed the split but did not elaborate.

The Searings moved some runners to Eurton earlier this year, including Kobe’s Back, who won the Grade 2 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland in April. More horses were transferred recently, Lee Searing said.

He declined to state the reason for the change but said he wanted his runners in one stable.

“John has been unbelievable. Seventeen years is a long time,” he said. “I’m kind of a one-trainer guy, too. I felt this was the right thing to do.”

On Sunday, Kobe’s Back worked a half-mile in 49.40 seconds under jockey Gary Stevens. Kobe’s Back is scheduled to start in the $1.25 million Metropolitan Mile Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday.

– additional reporting by Jay Privman