Chandelier: Secret Compass relishes longer distance

ARCADIA, Calif. - A change of scenery and the longest race of her brief career helped Secret Compass score an upset win in Saturday’s $250,500 Chandelier Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.

Ridden for the first time by Rosie Napravnik, Secret Compass ($23.40) closed from fourth in a field of seven to catch 2-1 She’s a Tiger in the final strides and win by a head. She’s a Tiger, the winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 31, finished three-quarters of a length in front of Fascinating, the 6-5 favorite who remains a maiden after four starts.

Secret Compass, Fascinating, and Awesome Baby, who finished fifth, are trained by Bob Baffert. Secret Compass gave Baffert his second consecutive win in the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes, a key prep for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 2. He won the race six times when it was known as the Oak Leaf Stakes until 2012.

With her win in the Chandelier, Secret Compass earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Juvenile Fillies through the Breeders’ Cup’s Win and You’re In program.

Napravnik had Secret Compass in fourth on the backstretch, stalking pacesetter Harlington’s Rose and then Awesome Baby through fractions of 22.80 and 46.25 seconds. She’s a Tiger, who was three-wide on the backstretch, took the lead at the end of the backstretch, and led by as many as 2 1/2 lengths on the turn. Her lead was reduced to a length over Secret Compass with a furlong remaining, an advantage she could not sustain.

“She had to gut it out down the stretch,” Baffert said of Secret Compass. “I thought she’d be better going two turns.”

Secret Compass ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.91.

Harlington’s Rose finished fourth, followed by Awesome Baby, Belle of the Fleet, and Antiquity.

Secret Compass gave winning owner Westrock Stable its first success in a Grade 1 race.

Secret Compass was fourth in the Del Mar Debutante in her stakes debut. She beat maidens in a six-furlong race at Del Mar on July 28, but failed to impress Baffert as she trained on that track’s Polytrack surface.

“She was a disappointment at Del Mar,” Baffert said. “She trained good before she got down there.”

Secret Compass, by Discreet Cat, has won 2 of 4 starts and $216,120. The filly was purchased for $425,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale 2-year-olds in-training sale in March.

Baffert said that Secret Compass and Fascinating would be pointed for the BC Juvenile Fillies. He thought that Fascinating’s chances in the Chandelier were hurt by racing over a track that has played friendly to front-runners since the autumn meeting began on Friday.

“Fascinating was so far back,” Baffert said. “I thought she was a victim of the track. I think she’ll move forward off of this. They’ll both be better for the Breeders’ Cup.”