Breeders' Cup: Secret Circle a heavy favorite in Juvenile Sprint

When the Breeders’ Cup gets under way Friday with inaugural running of the $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint, it seems probable that the race will have the shortest-priced favorite of the 15 Breeders’ Cup races in Secret Circle.

Installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite by Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia – the co-shortest morning-line price of any Breeders’ Cup favorite along with Filly and Mare Sprint favorite Turbulent Descent – he enters the Juvenile Sprint with easily the strongest form of any horse in the race.

Secret Circle, trained by Bob Baffert, is perfect in two starts, having won a maiden race by 7 1/4 lengths at Del Mar on July 23 and then following that race with a 5 1/4-length romp in the Jack Goodman Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 10. Both races earned him identical 97 Beyer Speed Figures, numbers none of his opponents have come close to matching.

The Juvenile Sprint, a six-furlong dirt race inaugurated this year and open to both males and females, drew strictly colts and geldings – nine in total – with Grade 3 Nashua winner Vexor, Prairie Gold Juvenile winner Jake Mo, and King Sirenia Stakes winner Shumoos being the other stakes winners.

The latter is the lone foreign representative, having raced in Britain over turf and synthetic surfaces.
The race drew one supplement, Hopeful and Nashua runner-up Trinniberg, who was nominated for $100,000, meaning he needs to win the Juvenile Sprint for his connections to turn a profit.

A second-place finish would mostly recoup their $100,000 supplement, while any finish worse than second would mean a sizable loss.

Seeker, third in the Nashua behind Vexor, is the 4-1 second favorite on the morning line, though he arguably drew worst of any in the Juvenile Sprint, landing in post 1 in a race that should unfold with a quick pace.

Two pre-entries, Caspar Netscher and Hansen, were entered in other races, with Caspar Netscher going in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and Hansen in the Juvenile. Another of the 11 original pre-entries, Hunt Crossing, was taken out of consideration from the race last week after suffering a knee injury.

Juvenile Sprint, Post Time: 4:10 ET Friday

Purse: $500,000; 6 furlongs

Post	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	ML Odds
	Seeker	S. Asmussen	Julien Leparoux	4-1
	Sum of the Parts	Thomas Amoss	Rajiv Maragh	15-1
	Blacky The Bull	Jeff Bonde	Pat Valenzuela	20-1
	Trinneberg	Bisnath Parboo	Cornelio Velasquez	9-2
	Shumoos	Brian Meehan	Garrett Gomez	15-1
	Secret Circle	Bob Baffert	Rafael Bejarano	6-5
	Holdin Bullets	Wesley Ward	Jeffrey Sanchez	15-1
	Jake Mo	Allen Milligan	Mike Smith	20-1
	Vexor	John Kimmel	David Cohen	5-1