ARCADIA, Calif. - Craig Lewis would have preferred to have been a two-time stakes-winning trainer in December rather than a two-time stakes-winning breeder.

He reached the breeding milestone on Thursday when Debonair Joe won the $200,000 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita in a 26-1 upset, more than three months after he was claimed away from Lewis for $12,500 at Fairplex Park.

Now trained by Juan Pablo Silva, Debonair Joe is on a two-race stakes winning streak, having pulled a 52-1 upset in the Vernon Underwood Stakes at Hollywood Park on Dec. 7.

LAS VEGAS - This is part two of a series on the freshman stallions of 2003, with particular emphasis on how to bet their offspring:

LAS VEGAS - This year's freshman stallions will be a tough act to follow. Usually, there are two or three young sires who stand out from the rest and go on to successful careers. But the 2002 freshman sires were a special group, an impressive array of stallions, among them Elusive Quality, Distorted Humor, Awesome Again, Tale of the Cat, Grand Slam, Swiss Yodeler, Touch Gold, Stormy Atlantic, Coronado's Quest, and Indian Charlie.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - In just two decades, Carl and Olivia Cannata went from having a stable of three racehorses to being named the 2001 California Breeders of the Year by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. The gamble of turning their hobby into a full-time business has paid off handsomely, and now they're placing a bet on a trifecta of new stallions.

It is impossible to know how good Tribal Rule could have been with a little luck.

In just four career starts, Tribal Rule showed the sort of ability as a sprinter that had owner Marty Wygod and trainer Julio Canani seriously considering the 2001 Breeders' Cup Sprint. Soundness problems ended those dreams and ultimately led to Tribal Rule's retirement earlier this year.

In 2003, Tribal Rule enters stud at Wygod's River Edge Farm in Buellton, Calif., for a fee of $5,000.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The talent pool of 3-year-olds based this winter at Santa Anita is enhanced by an unusually large group of well-regarded California-breds, some of whom, including the speedy D's Bertrando, are competing in the $125,000 California Breeders' Champion Stakes on opening day Thursday.

Northern California breeders Robert and Barbara Walter are doing a little Kentucky dreaming again - and not without reason.

Since they began breeding, as they put it, "seriously," in 1988, the Walters have produced a number of outstanding horses, including millionaires Tout Charmant, Lazy Slusan, and Cavonnier, winner of the 1996 Santa Anita Derby and second in that year's Kentucky Derby.

When Steve Sahadi, the operator of Cardiff Stud Farm in Atascadero, Calif., watched Skimming win the Pacific Classic at Del Mar in 2000 and again in 2001, Sahadi figured that Skimming had moved out of California's league as a stallion prospect.

"I thought it was remote that he would retire in California," Sahadi recalls thinking at the time.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Preakness Stakes winner Red Bullet, who retired earlier this year, will travel south to begin his stud career at owner Frank Stronach's Adena Springs South in Ocala, Florida. Stronach previously had announced that Red Bullet, a 5-year-old son of Unbridled, would stand at Adena Springs in Lexington.

Red Bullet will stand for a $30,000, the same fee at which he was advertised in Kentucky.

LAS VEGAS - This year's freshman stallions will be a tough act to follow. Usually, there are two or three young sires who stand out from the rest and go on to successful careers. But the 2002 freshman sires were a special group, an impressive array of stallions, among them Elusive Quality, Distorted Humor, Awesome Again, Tale of the Cat, Grand Slam, Swiss Yodeler, Touch Gold, Stormy Atlantic, Coronado's Quest, and Indian Charlie.