ARCADIA, Calif. – A pair of high-class comebackers try to reinvent themselves Saturday in separate turf races at Santa Anita. Seal Team, a Grade 2-winning route horse, will transform to a sprinter when he returns in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on the hill. The San Simeon goes as race 3 on a nine-race program. Iron Man Cal, runner-up in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, will take his first step toward becoming a prominent older horse when he returns in a one-mile second-level allowance set for race 7. Seal Team and Iron Man Cal face challenges beyond having not raced since last spring and summer, respectively. Seal Team has never been a sprinter, and Iron Man Cal has never faced older. Richard Mandella trains San Simeon comebacker Seal Team and program favorite Sumter. The four others are Sorrento Sky, Genius Jimmy, Gran Oriente, and front-runner Quereme Pass. Seal Team, winner of the Grade 2 Twilight Derby in fall 2023 at Santa Anita, is racing for the first time since May, and sprinting for the first time since his runner-up debut in fall 2022. Nine subsequent starts by Seal Team were routes. Can he sprint at age 6? :: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more. “He’s never been a slow horse,” Mandella said. “And he’s training so good I don’t want to keep training him. I’m guessing he’ll sit back and make a good run.” Hector Berrios rides 3-for-10 Seal Team, listed at 4-1. Sumter is the 5-2 favorite despite finishing a disappointing fourth last month as odds-on favorite in a restricted sprint stakes on the main turf oval. “Can’t say why he hung the other day,” Mandella said. “I thought that was his race. He went in great. He came out great. But he is who he is. He’s good sometimes.” Sumter does like the hill, having finished second in the Grade 2 Joe Hernandez Stakes in 2024 and 2025. Mike Smith rides Sumter. Sorrento Sky has never won a stakes, but he is the only San Simeon starter who has won on the hill. Phil D’Amato trains Sorrento Sky, runner-up last out ahead of fourth-place Sumter. Sorrento Sky “is finding his form right now, more consistent form,” said D’Amato, who has Florent Geroux to ride Sorrento Sky. The pace of the San Simeon is likely to be set by Gulfstream Park shipper Quereme Pass, an allowance-caliber speedster who has won one of eight starts since arriving from Argentina. Last-out allowance winner Gran Oriente reportedly has not trained particularly well since his recent win. Genius Jimmy shortens in distance from a runner-up finish in an allowance route. If the San Simeon unfolds as expected, Seal Team can rally for the win over stablemate Sumter. The hillside course has played fair to all styles this meet, regardless of rail setting. The rails are down Saturday. In race 7, D’Amato-trained Iron Man Cal makes his first start since an slow-starting runner-up finish last July as odds-on favorite in the Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds at Del Mar. “He’s had some little issues, nothing major, just kind of one after another and always required just a little bit of time,” D’Amato said. “He’s back now, and he’s really good. [Antonio] Fresu has been breezing him the last month. He should be fit enough to give a good effort.” The question facing 4-year-old Iron Man Cal: How will he fare against older? Tempus Volat faces the same question. He finished second by a head last out in the age-restricted Grade 2 Mathis Mile on Dec. 28. A short break since was by design. “Now that we’re going to face older, I thought it was the right time to take a little step back with him,” trainer Leonard Powell said. “That’s the reason I decided to give him a bit of a freshening ahead of his 4-year-old campaign.” Tempus Volat has trained regularly since he last raced, despite a gap in published workouts from Feb. 8 to Feb. 22. Powell said clockers missed a workout during that time. Mirco Demuro rides Tempus Volat, who figures for a pace-pressing trip behind Balladeer and streaking Captain Choochies, who has won five straight. Program favorite Centrodelantero is 2 for 2 since moving to trainer Jeff Mullins, but he must overcome the outside post in a field of 10. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.