Breeders' Cup Sprint champion Secret Circle retired

DEL MAR, Calif. - Secret Circle, the winner of the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and $2 million Golden Shaheen for sprinters in Dubai in March, has been retired and will stand at stud in 2016, trainer Bob Baffert said on Thursday.

Baffert said a deal with a stallion farm has not been finalized, and that discussions will take place in coming weeks and months.

Secret Circle won 8 of 16 starts and earned $3,670,790 for owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman. A 6-year-old by Eddington, Secret Circle made his final start in the Golden Shaheen at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on March 28. In recent months, Secret Circle had been with Baffert’s stable at Los Alamitos, but did not have a recorded workout in that time.

When it became apparent that Secret Circle would not be ready for a start in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31, the retirement was finalized.

“We ran out of time to make the Breeders’ Cup,” Baffert said. “We’ll put him out there and retire him.”

Secret Circle won his first three starts, including the 2011 BC Juvenile Sprint. In early 2012, Secret Circle won the Rebel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park and was second in the Arkansas Derby before being sidelined until the fall of 2013 when he won an optional claimer at Santa Anita. Secret Circle won the Breeders’ Cup in his next start, the first of two Grade 1 or Group 1 wins.

Last fall, Secret Circle was second in the BC Sprint at Santa Anita and second in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.