Secret Circle, Shumoos heading to California after Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint

Barbara D. Livingston

Secret Circle and Shumoos, the 1-2 finishers in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint, will have winter campaigns in California.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The top two finishers from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint, victorious Secret Circle and runner-up Shumoos, are California bound for the winter.

Although Secret Circle is no stranger there, Shumoos is, having made all of her starts prior to the Juvenile Sprint in Britain.

The lone filly to run in the Juvenile Sprint, she has now joined the stable of Southern California-based trainer Ben Cecil. She had been trained by Brian Meehan.

“It’s nice to pick up ones like that, that’s for sure,” Cecil said Saturday.

Shumoos, a daughter of Distorted Humor owned by Fawzi Nass, outran her 15-1 odds in the Juvenile Sprint, closing from last to finish second, beaten a length by heavily favored Secret Circle. Previously, she had won two races in Britain, a maiden race on turf and a stakes race against males on Polytrack.

Cecil said she would be flown to California early Sunday morning and likely be pointed to a 3-year-old campaign at Santa Anita. He said one of his goals with her will be working on her high-strung ways.

She acted up in the starting gate prior to Juvenile Sprint, causing her rider, Garrett Gomez, to dismount briefly as other runners were loaded.

Cecil hopes she can run longer, but noted “there is a question of how far she’ll go.” All of seven of her races have come at six furlongs or less.

As for Secret Circle, he came out of the race in good condition, trainer Bob Baffert said Saturday.

Immediate racing plans for him are undetermined, but Baffert said after the Juvenile Sprint on Friday that eventually he would give Secret Circle the chance to stretch out from the six-furlong distance of the Juvenile Sprint.

Prior to winning the Juvenile Sprint, Secret Circle won a pair of races in Southern California, taking the Jack Goodman Stakes at Santa Anita and a maiden race at Del Mar.

– additional reporting by Jay Privman