Arcadia, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Former Breeders Cup Sprint winner Secret
Circle, second his last two times out, heads a field of seven sprinters for
Saturday’s $100,000 Midnight Lute Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita.
Trained by Bob Baffert, Secret Circle will again be ridden by Martin Garcia
and break from post 6. The Midnight Lute had been run at Hollywood Park as the
Vernon O. Underwood Stakes.
Secret Circle, owned by Karl Watson, Paul Weitman and Mike Pegram, was second
last time out, ridden by Joel Rosario, as the 5-2 favorite in the Cigar Mile
at Aqueduct, beaten five lengths by Private Zone. That effort came four weeks
after finishing second, with Garcia riding, in the Breeders Cup Sprint at
Santa Anita, dropping a half-length decision to Work All Week. The 5-year-old
won the 2013 Sprint with Garcia in the saddle.
Winless in 2014, Secret Circle has three seconds and a third from four starts
but has career earnings of $2,424,790 from 13 starts with seven wins, five
seconds and a third.
Here is the complete field in post position order for the Midnight Lute: Heir
of Storm, Gary Stevens; Bahamian Squall, Corey Nakatani; Bolita Boyz, Rafael
Bejarano; Appealing Tale, Victor Espinoza; Seeking the Sherif, Edwin
Maldonado; Secret Circle, Martin Garcia and Distinctiv Passion, Mike Smith.
Post time for the Midnight Lute Stakes will be approximately 5:30 p.m. ET.
