HORSE RACING: TRAINER: I'M SORRY, I WAS TOTALLY WRONG.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Staff Writer The trainer of one of the losing horses in Sunday's Pacific Classic has apologized for his angry remarks about winner Lava Man Lava Man (foaled on March 20, 2001) is a dark bay gelded thoroughbred race horse by Slew City Slew (Seattle Slew) out of L'il Ms. Leonard (Nostalgia's Star) who rose from the lowest levels of claiming races to become regarded by many racing fans and members of the racing media as a and about Del Mar Del Mar is the name of several places in the United States of America:
Minutes after Perfect Drift Perfect Drift, (foaled April 29, 1999 in Kentucky) is an American thoroughbred gelding racehorse. He is sired by the leading stud,Dynaformer, out of the Naskra mare, Nice Gal. This makes Perfect Drift a half-brother to 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro. finished fourth in the $1 million event, Kentucky-based trainer Murray Johnson claimed DelMar had prepared the racing surface to aid Lava Man's front-running style, and Johnson expressed suspicion that Lava Man had received a chemical boost. ``With the emotions of the time, I was looking to blame things and people that weren't to blame,'' Johnson said Monday in statements released by the Del Mar publicity department. ``I want people to know that's not what we think and feel. It was totally wrong to make those comments.'' Johnson said Perfect Drift ``got beat fair and square.'' Sunday, Johnson wondered bitterly why Del Mar's maintenance crew had graded the track, scraping topsoil away from the inside rail, the night before its biggest race. Del Mar track foreman Steve Wood said that's done nightly at ``98 percent'' of American racetracks. Also after the Pacific Classic, Johnson took a shot at Lava Man trainer Doug O'Neill, who was penalized pe·nal·ize tr.v. pe·nal·ized, pe·nal·iz·ing, pe·nal·iz·es 1. To subject to a penalty, especially for infringement of a law or official regulation. See Synonyms at punish. 2. in June and July after another horse exceeded the permissible 37 ``millimoles'' level for carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. in a post-race test. ``I'd love to know his (Lava Man's) bicarb bicarb Noun short for bicarbonate of soda level,'' Johnson said. ``I'm sure it's in the 30s.'' Johnson telephoned O'Neill Monday morning to apologize. O'Neill said that was ``very classy.'' heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com (818) 713-3616 |
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