Lava Man Runs Hot in Gold Cup Romp

Much better horses -- start with Seabiscuit, in 1938, and build from there -- have won the Hollywood Gold Cup, but none of them did what Lava Man accomplished in the 66th running of the historic race.

Resurrected from the lower claiming ranks less than a year ago, Lava Man won the $750,000 Gold Cup by 8 3/4 lengths Saturday at Hollywood Park, setting a record for the winning margin in the stake. Fronting the line of people who were shocked was Doug O’Neill, the 4-year-old California-bred gelding’s burr-headed trainer.

“When we claimed him,” O’Neill said, “I thought we were getting a horse that might run for $40,000 or $50,000 on grass. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we were getting a Grade I winner.”

With his only other Gold Cup starter, O’Neill won the stake in 2002 with Sky Jack. Another gelding, another California-bred. Maybe the bettors should have paid more attention. As it was, Lava Man paid $14 as the third choice in a nine-horse field. Limehouse, the 13-10 favorite, finished a distant fifth. The shipper from New York was uncooperative in the paddock, almost flipped in the gate and stumbled when the doors opened.

“He never showed up today,” said his jockey, John Velazquez.

Borrego, last when the 1 1/4 -mile race was half over, finished second, a length in front of Congrats, who led the field until Lava Man and Pat Valenzuela took over with a quarter-mile to go.

The old record for margin was set by Cutlass Reality, a 6 1/2 -length winner in 1988. Lava Man’s time was 1:59 3/5 , as he became the fourth sub-two-minute winner of the Gold Cup in the last 14 years. The winner carried high weight, such as it was, of 118 pounds, lowest for a Gold Cup winner in 10 years. This was the first Gold Cup run under handicap conditions since 1996.

“He ran a great race, and he did it in racehorse time,” said Valenzuela, who had been 0 for 8 in the Gold Cup. “I’m even wondering if they might supplement him to the Breeders’ Cup [Classic].”

That $4-million race, at Belmont Park on Oct. 29, would cost Lava Man’s owners -- Jason Wood and Dave, Tracey and Steve Kenley -- $800,000 to run, and O’Neill sounded as though there were less punitive ways for the horse to add to his purse total. His crew might start with the $1-million Pacific Classic on Aug. 21 at Del Mar, the track where O’Neill claimed Lava Man from trainer Lonnie Arterburn for $50,000 on Aug. 13.

Lava Man had run second on the grass that day, but instead of keeping him on turf, O’Neill immediately switched him to the dirt at Fairplex Park. “The owners have this theory that grass horses can do well at bullrings, and I agree with them,” O’Neill said. “He took to dirt right away.”

Still, Lava Man only broke even at Fairplex, winning a prep for the Pomona Derby but finishing a well-beaten third in the stake itself. His losing streak reached seven races before O’Neill added blinkers for two wins at Hollywood Park, including the Californian on June 18. Overall, Lava Man has won seven of 24 starts, with seven seconds and two thirds, and Saturday’s winner’s share of $450,000 boosted his purses to $908,039.

“The blinkers were the missing link,” O’Neill said. “He had run some bad races, and we wanted to do something that might change his form.”

In the race before the Californian, on May 14, Lava Man won as O’Neill risked losing him for a $100,000 claiming price.

“I came down after that one saying, ‘Did anybody take him, did anybody take him?’ ” O’Neill said. “It’s not that I was worried about losing a Grade I winner. I just didn’t want to lose a horse that I might run again in three or four weeks.”

When Valenzuela let Lava Man settle into second place, behind Congrats, O’Neill was happy with the target his horse was chasing.

“I was right where I wanted to be,” Valenzuela said. “I saw more speed in the race, so I was surprised that nobody else wanted to go with Congrats. I was happy to sit on his flank the whole way.”

Limehouse, winner of the Brooklyn Handicap a month back, had only two horses beat at the quarter pole.

“I was right behind the winner on the backside,” Velazquez said. “They drew away in front of me and he never responded at all. I was riding him real early, just trying to keep my position. I don’t know if it was the track or what, because he just gave it up so quickly.... Unbelievable.”