Lava Man Hasn’t Been So Hot in Last Two Races

Lava Man hasn’t been quite the same since he won the Hollywood Gold Cup by nearly nine lengths last July at Hollywood Park.

Yes, the 5-year-old Slew City Slew gelding nearly won the Pacific Classic at Del Mar as the 3-2 favorite, finishing third behind Borrego and Perfect Drift.

Two subsequent starts in New York and Japan, however, were not pretty. Lava Man was beaten by 45 1/2 lengths in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, then was 17 1/4 lengths behind the winner in the Japan Cup Dirt at Tokyo Race Course less than two months later.

Rested since by trainer Doug O’Neill, Lava Man, who races for Steve and Dave Kenley’s STD Racing Stable and Jason Wood, will try to rebound in the $1-million Classic, the main event of the fourth annual Sunshine Millions, which features four stakes races locally and four more at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

In the 1 1/8 -mile Classic, which will be the final of the Millions races run here, after the $300,000 Dash, $300,000 Filly and Mare Sprint and $500,000 Filly and Mare Turf, Lava Man is the 3-1 favorite on Jeff Tufts’ morning line.

Claimed for $50,000 in the summer of 2004, Lava Man had alibis for his last two starts.

The California-bred, who has earned $1,034,706 while winning seven of 27, emerged from the race in Japan with an injured left front foot.

“We’ve given it plenty of time to heal,” O’Neill said. “In New York, we had trouble with our shipping plans and we didn’t get there until two days before the race. He washed out in the paddock and bled in the race, so he had valid excuses for those two debacles.

“He’s been very calm, relaxed and confident in his training. I think he’s back to where he was last spring and summer, but I guess we’ll know more” this afternoon.

O’Neill also has a horse in the Dash, the promising 3-year-old Plagiarist. A gelded son of Souvenir Copy owned by David Lanzman, Plagiarist broke his maiden by 8 1/4 lengths in a rapid 1:08 4/5 in his only start, Dec. 17 at Hollywood Park.

He is one of eight scheduled to run in the six-furlong race. The other top contenders are Da Stoops and Florida shipper In Summation, who has won five of his six starts around one turn.

“He’s trained very well since the [December] race,” O’Neill said of Plagiarist. “He surprised us in a good way in his first start. We knew he was talented, but we didn’t know he had the kind of quickness he showed” in making the lead through 21 2/5 and 44 4/5 fractions. “He’s doing great, he’s drawn perfectly and I think he’ll run well.”

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Since mid-2002, thoroughbred racing has lost six Hall of Fame jockeys to retirement -- Chris McCarron, Eddie Delahoussaye, Laffit Pincay, Julie Krone, Pat Day and Gary Stevens, although Krone has yet to make hers official.

Jerry Bailey will make it seven when he wraps up his career today at Gulfstream Park, and he’ll go out trying to do something only one of the others did with their final mount.

McCarron, who rode for the last time in June 2002, is the lone member of the elite group to end atop a winner. He rode favored Came Home to victory in the Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood Park.

Bailey, who announced his impending retirement on Jan. 18, will participate in three of the four Sunshine Millions races today at Gulfstream Park. After riding Thor’s Echo in the $300,000 Sprint and Secret Corsage in the $500,000 Distaff, he’ll finish his career on Silver Tree in the $500,000 Turf.

Trained by Bill Mott, with whom Bailey has had much success, for owner Peter Vegso, Silver Tree has the credentials to provide Bailey with a fitting send-off.

The 6-year-old Hennessy horse is three for three on the Gulfstream Park turf course and was second to both Leroisdesanimaux and Artie Schiller, the 1-2 finishers in the recent voting for the Eclipse Award as top male turf horse of 2005, in two Grade II races last summer at Saratoga.

Bailey does not have a mount in the $250,000 Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs at Gulfstream.

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Groovy, the champion sprinter of 1987, was euthanized recently at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., because of various physical problems. He was 23.

A Texas-bred son of Norcliffe, Groovy finished his career with 12 victories in 26 starts.

During his championship year for trainer Jose Martin, Groovy won the Forego, Vosburgh, True North, Roseben, Tom Fool and Finger Lakes Breeders’ Cup Stakes before suffering his lone loss in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He finished second behind Very Subtle at Hollywood Park.