Santa Anita: Secret Circle eyes Breeders' Cup Sprint after comeback win

Secret Circle may have earned a start in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2 with an emphatic comeback win in an optional claimer Monday.

Unraced since finishing second to Bodemeister in the Arkansas Derby in April 2012, Secret Circle won the six-furlong race by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:07.98.

“When they’re off that long, sometimes you forget how good they are,” trainer Bob Baffert said in the winner’s circle.

Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, Secret Circle has won 6 of 8 starts and earned $1,055,790. The winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint at Churchill Downs in 2011, Secret Circle won two stakes at Oaklawn Park in early 2012 – the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes and Grade 2 Rebel Stakes.

Baffert said having the BC Sprint at Santa Anita “is very tempting. It’s nice to have him back.”

[BREEDERS’ CUP 2013: See DRF’s top contenders]

Baffert won three consecutive races – the second through fourth – on Monday, beginning with the maiden-claimer Appearance. After Secret Circle’s win, Baffert won the $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes for 2-year-old sprinters with Can the Man, the first stakes win for the colt by Into Mischief.

Can the Man ran six furlongs in 1:09.53. He raced without blinkers for the first time in the Speakeasy Stakes.

Baffert downplayed the likelihood that Can the Man would return in a Breeders’ Cup race on Nov. 1-2.

“I think one-turn is for him right now,” Baffert said.

Owned by Kaleem Shah, Can the Man was purchased for $320,000 at the Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training earlier this year.