LAVA MAN CHASING LEGEND.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI HORSE RACING

INGLEWOOD - The comparison, based on hope more than history, was heard for the first time last month after Lava Man led from start to finish on the Hollywood Park turf course in a race called the Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap.

Let's see, the thinking went, Lava Man is a hardy old gelding. He has pulled himself up from the low claiming ranks. And, with that victory on turf, he has proved himself one of the rare thoroughbreds with the versatility -- and the flexible handlers -- to win major races on dirt and grass.

Lava Man, the new John Henry?

We can use our imaginations, can't we, as Lava Man prepares to run in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on Saturday.

``It's a little bit early to tell,'' said Ron McAnally, who trained John Henry in the early 1980s when the working-class hero made himself perhaps the most popular California racehorse since Seabiscuit. ``Most of his races, Lava Man gets an easy lead, or the competition isn't the best. John, as you know, was a very competitive horse. When he ran next to another horse, he wouldn't let them go by. I think the truth will come when Lava Man is running head-and-head with somebody.

``I'm not saying he's not going to be another John Henry. I hope he is -- we need more champions.''

McAnally is right. Lava Man has a long way to go before he earns bows from John Henry, now 31 and retired to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

Lava Man is 5 years old, has won three Grade I races, has earned $2,454,706, and is looking for his first national championship. John Henry raced until he was 9, won 16 Grade I races, banked a then-record $6,597,947, and was a two-time Horse of the Year and five-time divisional champ.

But you miss the point if you merely contrast Lava Man's impressive statistics with John Henry's awesome numbers and call it no contest.

Short of a Triple Crown winner, American horse racing craves nothing as much as an older horse with a backstory who'll stay competitive at the top levels long enough to become a household name.

John Henry (who was gelded because he was too cantankerous, ran for a $20,000 claiming price in New Orleans and went on to win Eclipse Awards each year from 1980 to '84) has become the archetype. Lava Man (who was gelded like many light-pedigreed California-breds, debuted in a $12,500 claiming race at Stockton and was claimed for $50,000 at Del Mar and won the 2005 Hollywood Gold Cup and 2006 Santa Anita Handicap) is the active horse with the most similar vibe.

There are other comparisons to be made, especially if Lava Man and jockey Corey Nakatani win the 1 1/4-mile Hollywood Gold Cup (one major Southern California event that John Henry never won) over Magnum, Super Frolic, Seek Gold and Ace Blue.

Lava Man can become only the second horse in the Gold Cup's 67 runnings to win it more than once, joining Native Diver (1965-67), a Cal-bred icon.

Lava Man can become the first horse to win the Whittingham (formerly known as the Hollywood Turf Handicap) and the Gold Cup successively since Exceller (1978), who later that year became the only horse to defeat two Triple Crown winners when he beat Seattle Slew and Affirmed in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

And Lava Man can become the most successful claim in thoroughbred history. With a win, Lava Man will have made $2,806,103 for owners STD Racing and Jason Wood since trainer Doug O'Neill made the claim in August 2004. That would beat Budroyale's $2,556,650 for owner Jeffrey Sengara after being claimed for $50,000 by trainer Ted West in 1998.

But it's the John Henry connection that quickens the pulse of any horse-racing fan who's old enough -- and that's pretty much every horse-racing fan -- to remember his exploits at the end of the sport's last golden age.

``He (Lava Man) reminds me of a horse like John Henry,'' Nakatani said after their two-length victory in the Whittingham on June 10. ``He's won on turf and dirt, he can do it all. John Henry was a horse they got for little money, and he turned out to be one of the best horses we've seen.''

As McAnally says, it's a little too early to tell how far Lava Man can take this comparison. It's unfair to ask him to race four more years, win 13 more major races, pull in another $4 million and dominate Eclipse Award ceremonies from now until the next World Cup.

But between here and the heights hit by John Henry, there's a lot of room for greatness.

heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com

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CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

Jockey Corey Nakatani and Lava Man will try to win the Hollywood Gold Cup on Saturday at Hollywood Park.

Benoit Photo

Box:

(1) LAVA MAN'S MILESTONES

(2) OUT OF THE GATE

- Kevin Modesti and Associated Press