Notes - Dec 29

- Speaking of Maria's Mon, his son Monarchos is one that has not fared particularly well as a sire. He started out at $25,000 in 2002, was cut to $15,000 this year, and slashed further to $7500 for 2007. From his two crops to race thus far, he's had three stakes winners, just one this year, and none of them of the graded variety.

- Interesting winner for Bob Baffert at Santa Anita on Thursday. C'Mon Tiger (Storm Cat) had raced once over in Ireland, running 4th before making his dirt debut here. He's a half brother to the two time Classic winner and dual champ Tiznow. So it was little surprise that the bettors ignored his 5-1 morning line and sent him off as the 9-5 favorite, especially given his sensational workout tab. He won by three lengths, but will have to improve on his final quarter clocking of 26 seconds in order to step up to more serious company.

Bobby Frankel had two winners on the card, including Indian Flare, who took the Kalookan Queen Handicap, defeating the slight favorite Somethinaboutlaura. It's been a good week for Indian Flare's dam True Flare, whose three-year old son Latent Heat won the Malibu on Tuesday.