Lest you think I’ve been abducted or have run away with the circus I thought I should post a little something.

I’ve been busy over here crunching numbers for SAFC’s first reports and I’m happy to say that it’s going well!

The submissions have been well thought out and well intentioned for the most part with no real smart ass or useless contributions. The effort is definitely off to a great start and I’ll post more about the reports and some of our upcoming plans soon (after I get done with the reports… just visualize me with a digital wheel-barrow taking lots of piles of data from one place to another and then deciding it all should go in 3 separate piles elsewhere to then change my mind again).

A few little things that have jumped out at me recently…

Jess Jackson schools us all on the classy way to trash talk:

I would love to meet Big Brown. It would be great for the industry and the fans. But all we can do is take one race at a time. I don’t know where it would be. I suspect they might retire him before we ever get a chance to meet. (If we do) I prefer it be on dirt and at a mile and a quarter.

Did anyone else think this statement by Paul Pompa was odd:

The Woodward isn’t in our thinking right now,” said Pompa, a 25% owner of Big Brown. “The timing isn’t right for the horse. Mike Iavarone (of co-owner IEAH Stables) and I discussed it, and we’re not going to Saratoga. There is no reason to rush him back. He’s coming off a tough race.

It was a tough race in part because he was coming off a break. That race probably did him a lot of good as he actually fought for his win. Many others have made far more concise and astute readings of this situation than I could so I’ll leave it at that, but that sentiment seemed completely ass backwards to me.

And finally, Lava Man’s 2005 Hollywood Gold Cup recently popped up on YouTube so I added it to my Lava Man post. It’s an incredible race, he really blows them away at something like 6-1 where it seemed obvious he was somewhat disregarded.

Back to the digital wheel-barrow.

Posted by dana on Aug 07 2008    
Filed Under: Big Brown, Self Appointed Fan Committee, 2008, Hollywood Gold Cup, Curlin, Lava Man, Racing

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My all time fav shot of Lava Man, winning his 3rd Hollywood Gold Cup (Charles Pravata)

The reports are in, my favorite horse currently racing is official retired. As it turns out he has some issues with his ankles so he won’t get the Funny Cide one last harrah race many of us were hoping for. It’s still unclear if he’ll be Doug O’Neill’s stable pony so keep your fingers crossed!

There weren’t as many of his races up at YouTube as I would have liked, in an ideal world I would post all three Hollywood Gold Cup’s and both Santa Anita Handicaps.

2005 Hollywood Gold Cup:

2006 Hollywood Gold Cup:

You’ll have to go to NTRA video archive to the 2007 Hollywood Gold Cup.

2007 Santa Anita Handicap:

Back to NTRA for the 2006 Santa Anita Handicap.

While not a race, here are his last minutes on the track as a race horse after the Eddie Read:

I’ve written about Lava Man frequently and you can see all of my posts here.

Congratulations to Lava Man’s connections for possibly the best claim ever and many thanks for keeping him around… he’ll be missed. Enjoy your retirement old man!

Posted by dana on Jul 30 2008    
Filed Under: Farewell, Charles Pravata, Geldings, Hollywood Gold Cup, 2008, Doug O'Neill, Santa Anita, YouTube, Retirement, Fans, Lava Man, Race Replay, :(, Hollywood Park, Racing

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Lava Man and his beloved groom Noe Garcia before the Khaled Stakes at Hollywood Park (Charles Pravata)

Charles Pravata was kind enough to send me this great shot of Lava Man and his groom Noe Garcia prior to the Khaled in the paddock. While he didn’t win, I thought he ran well and was definitely not the checked out Lava Man of his prior 3 6th places.

His connections seem to be eyeing another try at the Gold Cup! And while trainer Doug O’Neil was disappointed he didn’t win, he felt that Lava Man would probably need a race or two to get back into good form. Only fair for 7yo!

I took a look over at YouTube to see if I could find the race. Not only did find it, I found two excellent “extras”!

Here’s a clip of handicapper Rich Perloff discussing Lava Man. While discussing works he also points out the difference between breezing vs. handy between the east & west coast tracks. Someone in the crowd also raises my point about Lava Man’s 3 flops coinciding with his groom’s absence.

Here’s some footage of Lava Man preparing for the race.

And finally, the race itself…

Welcome back old man!

Posted by dana on Apr 28 2008    
Filed Under: Geldings, Charles Pravata, Hollywood Gold Cup, Doug O'Neill, 2008, Corey Nakatani, Workouts, YouTube, Lava Man, Fans, Handicapping, Race Replay, Turf, Hollywood Park, Racing

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Lava Man at Santa Anita (Charles Pravata).

There are several good articles on Lava Man at the moment. They all seem (I haven’t completely read all of them yet) to boil down to the same sentiment… so what if he doesn’t travel well and is probably a little off of his best game, we should “simply savor the rich meal he has served” in the words of Jay Hovdey. Clearly what we’ve lost in Invasor, we’ve gained in the ability to appreciate the horses that are running.

Long Live California’s King - Jay Hovdey [DRF+]

Lava Man, A Treasure to be Shared - Steve Haskin [Bloodhorse]

Another Nail Bitter - Randy Moss [NTRA]

And a special nod to Superfecta for her headline:
Geldings Gone Wild - Superfecta Blog

Posted by dana on Jul 03 2007    
Filed Under: Charles Pravata, Geldings, Hollywood Gold Cup, Hollywood Park, 2007, Wooo!, Lava Man, Racing

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Lava Man (right) winning his 3rd consecutive Hollywood Gold Cup (Charles Pravata).

Lava Man ties Native Diver’s record of 3 consecutive wins of the Hollywood Gold Cup in a thrilling stretch battle with A.P. Xcellent and a fast closing long shot Big Booster (pictured on the left)!

In an interview on ESPN, one of the three owners said they would not race him outside of Cali again (we’ll see about that). A.P Xcellent stepped up nicely, perhaps we’ll see more great stuff from him. Molengao tired in the stretch, he made a nice move about half way through the back stretch and was coming on at the top of the stretch but had run 3 or 4 wide. I think Big Booster closed from pretty far back, I’ll have to watch the replay but he came on strong.

What a great way to end the racing day!

Posted by dana on Jun 30 2007    
Filed Under: Sweet Vindication, Geldings, Hollywood Gold Cup, Charles Pravata, Hollywood Park, Wooo!, Lava Man, 2007, Racing

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