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SANTA ANITA NOTEBOOK JANUARY 25, 2012 by John Mucciolo A pair of Grade 2 events highlighted the third week at Santa Anita. Palos Verdes S. (G2): Schmitt et al's FRUMIOUS rolled to his third straight fine tally in wiring this field for trainer Jeff Bonde. The rapidly ascending six-year-old clocked six panels in a wicked 1:07 1/5 to win by 5 3/4 lengths under Antonio Castanon. La Canada S. (G2): Jay Em Ess's INCLUDE ME OUT ran the race of her life, posting a dominant 4 1/4-length score under Joe Talamo. The talented Ron Ellis trainee traveled 1 1/16 miles in 1:41 4/5 and put away a pair of good ones late. Track Stats From a total of 34 races held over the Arcadia racetrack during the past week, favorites won at a 41 percent clip and the top two betting choices combined for 62 percent of the wins. From 27 frays contested on the dirt, seven animals won in wire-to-wire fashion (26 percent), while none of the seven grassy tussles went all the way on the lead. The main oval played very much to speed on the wet oval on Saturday, with five wire jobs happening in eight main-track events. This oval always speeds up and plays to speed types when it gets moisture in it. For the rest of the week, just two horses led all the way from 19 dirt races. Just three winners broke outside of post six during the four-day race week, two of which came on Saturday. Meet Totals
HORSES TO WATCH Thursday (1/19) 1ST -- We were surprised that no one put in a claim for BENCH THE JUDGE, who was a solid winner in this racing at a career low level. The Doug O'Neill trainee will be tough next time, even with a small class rise. 4TH -- ULTIMATE DECISION returns to the Watch list following another romp on the dirt, his second in succession. The gelded four-year-old has really found his niche on the main oval and could be almost any type. Haltered for $20,000 two back, he could turn out to be a superb claim. 5TH -- WARREN'S WHY ME displayed a fine turn of foot in a solid runner-up showing at first asking under Joel Rosario in this one. The four-year-old miss will be an obvious player with a step forward in her return. Friday (1/20) 1ST -- BLUESKIESNRAINBOWS has really improved since learning to rate two back for trainer Bob Baffert and the English Channel colt could be headed to face allowance foes after this dominating tally. 4TH -- CORNER OFFICE was the recipient of a dream trip in this one, but the odds-on favorite came home in rather average fashion and we might try to beat this one in his comeback event. Saturday (1/21) 6TH -- CASTAWAY set some nice middle fractions to pull clear of this field in an improved showing for Baffert. We thought this field had a lot of potential, and will keep a close eye on this developing sophomore son of Street Sense. Sunday (1/22) 7TH -- PORFIDO has found the proverbial fountain of youth as of late and has now strung together several good races in a row, including a win in here. We'll back the 10-year-old until he proves that he is not up to the task anymore. A Look Ahead Saturday plays host to five stakes races at Santa Anita, led by the Grade 1, $300,000 Santa Monica and the Grade 3, $100,000 Santa Ysabel.
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