PACIFIC CLASSIC: LAVA MAN WINS, TURF WAR ENSUES OPPOSING TRAINER: DEL MAR SURFACE BENEFITED VICTOR.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Staff Writer DEL MAR Del Mar is the name of several places in the United States of America:
``How can you fault a horse who's won six races this year?'' asked Steve Kenly, a co-owner of Lava Man. Obviously, Kenly wasn't listening as the Kentucky-based trainer of fourth-place 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. tried to do exactly that, Murray Johnson complaining that the Del Mar maintenance crew gave Lava Man an enhanced home-track advantage. Consider this a reminder that some of Lava Man's hardest work lies ahead as the 5-year-old gelding gelding castrated male horse. who has run poorly out-of-state aims to convince Horse of the Year voters in the Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade 1 Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3 years old and older run at a distance of 1¼ miles (2012 m) on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. at Churchill Downs. As Lava Man's connections whooped it up in the winner's circle after the 2 1/2-length victory in front of 32,039 fans, Johnson stood seething seethe intr.v. seethed, seeth·ing, seethes 1. To churn and foam as if boiling. 2. a. To be in a state of turmoil or ferment: yards away. Johnson said that when he went to check on Perfect Drift at about 9 p.m. Saturday, he saw grading tractors on the track, scraping topsoil from the inside of the oval to the outside. He contended this made the surface harder and faster than normal and favored the winner, who was head-and-head for the lead before bursting clear on the far turn. ``Ask Del Mar why you would grade a racetrack the night before a (major) race,'' Johnson said. ``Look who it helped. It took the dirt off and made it more like Hollywood Park (where Lava Man has won two Hollywood Gold Cups). Good luck to the horse. He's won it and stuff. He's a good horse. But when you get things catered to you.'' Johnson was asked if he looks forward to seeing Lava Man tested at the Nov. 4 Breeders' Cup in Louisville, Ky. Then the Australia-born trainer took an unprovoked dig 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. recently 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.'' Del Mar track foreman Steve Wood said the soil at the seaside track is graded every day, clearing the buildup near the inside rail that results from harrowing, and that nothing unusual was done for Pacific Classic day. ``I'd say 98 percent of racetracks do that,'' Wood said, speculating that Johnson had never witnessed Del Mar's nighttime routine. ``Was it set up for Lava Man? No. ... Lava Man was just a good horse today.'' Corey Nakatani, Lava Man's jockey, said he thought the track favored closers, not front-runners, on Sunday. The 1 1/4-mile clocking of 2:01.62 was the slowest in the 16 runnings of the Pacific Classic, but Lava Man ($4) was impressive to watch as he won his sixth race in a row and became the first horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in the late winter at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses three years old and up, and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during , Hollywood Gold Cup and Pacific Classic in the same season. Nakatani -- not yet 100 percent after being hospitalized Aug. 8-12 in Pasadena with a bacterial infection -- chirped to Lava Man with about three-eighths of a mile to go, and the horse quickly pulled away from Preachinattthebar and Magnum. Three lengths clear turning into the stretch, Lava Man briefly looked vulnerable as Good Reward unspooled a rally. The crowd's cheers in the final yards said the popular Californian had the race won. Good Reward finished second, Super Frolic Frolic - A Prolog system in Common Lisp. ftp://ftp.cs.utah.edu/pub/frolic.tar.Z. third, Perfect Drift fourth and 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo fifth, ahead of Top This and That, Magnum and Preachinatthebar. Everybody carried 124 pounds. ``He's unfrickinbelievable,'' O'Neill said of Lava Man, whom the owners claimed for $50,000 at Del Mar in 2004 and have made $3.4 million. O'Neill said Lava Man will have one prep, at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meet, before going to the Breeders' Cup. heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com (818) 713-3616 |
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