Trainer John Shirreffs will leave the West Coast to run a string at Belmont Park at the end of April, according to a March 30 report from the Los Angeles Times.
Shirreffs, best-known as the conditioner of 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, is a California native who has trained in that state since he took out his license in 1978. He is based at Betfair Hollywood Park, which could close at the end of the year.
"Belmont Park has been wonderful to me," Shirreffs told Eric Sondheimer of the Times. Shirreffs has saddled five horses at Belmont without a win.
"I'm going to try it," he said of taking some horses to make an East Coast move. According to the Times, an assistant will be in charge of the horseman's West Coast string. Shirreffs said he would return to Southern California in the winter.
