ARCADIA, Calif.  -   Did Secret Circle turn his three-week 2013 campaign into an Eclipse Award-winning campaign with his victory in Saturday’s $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint? That will be the question voters have to answer after Secret Circle moved to the head of what has been a topsy-turvy division all season long with his game neck decision over a fast closing Laugh Track in the Sprint. Secret Circle, winner of the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint, had been sidelined 18 months prior to launching his abbreviated 2013 season on Oct. 14 with a 1 1/2-length allowance win at Santa Anita, a performance that earned him a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure. He then bounced out of the race so well, that trainer Bob Baffert and the ownership partnership of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman decided, with the  Breeders’ Cup on their home grounds again this season, why not take a chance and run him back on short rest in the Sprint? Secret Circle rewarded his team for their confidence by overcoming a tough trip, during which he got shuffled back on the turn and had to be angled six wide into the stretch by jockey Martin Garcia, to win the Sprint. He is now one of the favorites, along with Points Offthebench, to win the Eclipse as the year’s top sprinter. Points Offthebench was the pro tem leader of the division when he suffered a fatal injury completing his final work for the Sprint. “The way the division has been this year, the sprinters have been a little bit inconsistent, there were no standouts in there this year,” said Baffert, who acknowledged Secret Circle would not run again in 2013. “This horse showed today he’s the best. It takes a special horse to do what he did. The talent is incredible. He’s in the same league with Midnight Lute, although he’s a totally different type of horse. He’s just fast, man. “I told a guy this week if this was the old West and you wanted to rob a bank, this is the horse you’d want.” Trainer Mark Casse had hoped to run Laugh Track in the Dirt Mile, his first preference, because he felt his horse needed the extra distance. As it turned out he was right, about another 10 yards might have done it, as Laugh Track finished full of run under Mike Smith to fall just short of catching Secret Circle while finishing a frustrating but impressive second in the Sprint. “Mike came back and said he felt bad because he thought if he’d just gone around horses instead of trying to save some ground on the turn, where he got steadied a bit, he would have won,” said Casse. “But I thought he rode a great race. I’m not sure there was much more he could have done. It’s just so frustrating to come so close and just miss, although I couldn’t be any prouder of my horse.” Casse said Laugh Track, who was making only his second career start on dirt, is scheduled to be sold next week in Kentucky, although he added he believes co-owners Gary Barber and WinStar Farm are now likely to pull him out of the sale. “I think they’re going to decide to keep this horse and there’s a chance we could try him in the Cigar Mile at the end of the month, depending upon how he comes out of this race,” said Casse. When asked to reflect upon the divisional championship, Casse said he thinks it’s still wide open. “You just hate to think these things are strictly determined on what a horse does on Breeders’ Cup Day, and the voters don’t take into consideration what they’ve accomplished during the rest of the year,” said Casse.