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Frumious leads all the way in Palos Verdes

Frumious cruised to the finish line after sprinting clear in the early stages of the Palos Verdes (Benoit Photos) Speed proved to be the ultimate weapon in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 Palos Verdes Stakes, which lost its luster when recently-named champion Amazombie scratched earlier in the day due to wet conditions. Frumious took advantage of the speed-favoring track at Santa Anita, sprinting straight to the front at the start and establishing wicked opening splits in :21 and :42 3/5, and the Jeff Bonde-trained gelding crushed his rivals in the stretch, winning by a 5 3/4-length margin beneath jockey Antonio Castanon. Owned by George and Mary Clare Schmitt, Frumious registered his first stakes victory when completing six furlongs in 1:07 1/5 over the wet-fast oval, and the dark bay son of Grindstone posted the fifth wire-to-wire victory of the afternoon. Galientos rushed up in the early stages in attempt to run with the pacesetter, but applied only brief pressure entering the far turn before beginning to weaken. However, Galientos managed to save the place, holding by a neck over the late-running Mensa Heat in third.

Euroears, M One Rifle and 9-5 favorite Courtside rounded out the order of finish. Canonize remained in the barn with leading sprinter Amazombie.

Frumious was off as the 6-1 fifth choice, and Galientos was the longest price on the tote board at 12-1.

Bred in California by Jayardee Stables, Frumious is out of the unraced Gold Legend mare Eternal Legend and counts stakes victor Eternal Rule as a half-brother. His maternal second dam, Eternal Search, was a three-time champion in Canada, being named the country's top sprinter in 1981 and leading older mare in 1982 and 1983. A 15-time stakes winner, the daughter of Northern Answer earned $642,177 from a 44-18-11-2 career mark. This is also the female family of Grade 2 winner Smokey Fire.

Frumious, who brought $17,000 as a yearling at the 2007 Barretts January Sale, competed in stakes races earlier in his career but had raced sparingly over the past three seasons. In December, the six-year-old dropped into the claiming ranks, scoring for a $40,000 tag two starts back at Hollywood Park, and he entered the Palos Verdes off a victory over optional claiming rivals at Santa Anita on New Year's Eve.

Frumious stretched his win streak to three on Saturday and improved his overall ledger to 15-6-0-4, $259,192.

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