Lava Man impresses, but Artiste Royal wins

Artiste Royal certainly makes his wins count.

The 7-year-old Danehill horse has two victories since the beginning of 2007, but both have come in Grade I races.

The latest score came in the $300,000 Charlie Whittingham Memorial Handicap on Saturday at Hollywood Park at the expense of 13-1 shot Monzante and five others.

David Flores rode the Irish-bred for the first time for owners David and Jill Heerensperger and trainer Neil Drysdale. The 3-1 second choice covered the 1 1/4 miles on turf in 1:59.99.

Aside from the sixth lifetime victory for Artiste Royal, the Whittingham was noteworthy for two other reasons -- a much-improved performance by Lava Man and a stinker from favored Champs Elysses.

In his second start after a layoff, Lava Man, the onetime toast of California, was sent to the lead by new rider Tyler Baze and opened up a commanding advantage through moderate fractions.

However, the 7-year-old with more than $5.26 million in earnings looked cooked when headed by Mr. Wolverine at the top of the stretch. Showing some of the spunk that had appeared lost in four of his most recent losses, Lava Man battled back and was defeated by only a neck and a nose.

Baze, trainer Doug O’Neill and part owner Steve Kenly were delighted with the performance. Naturally, it had them thinking about another crack at the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on June 28. Lava Man has won that race a record-tying three times in a row.

“We all as a team decided we wanted to be more aggressive with him today,” O’Neill said. “We wanted to make sure that if anybody got an easy lead in the race it was going to be him. The Gold Cup has got to be the plan if he comes out of this in good shape.”

Said Baze: “I’ve never had a horse run that game before. I haven’t been on one with this much heart. That was a good feeling. The old boy is back.”

Champs Elysees suffered his second consecutive loss at less than even money. A nose behind On The Acorn in the Jim Murray Memorial on May 10 at 2-5, he never got involved at 4-5 on Saturday. He finished sixth of seven, some 12 lengths behind Artiste Royal.

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In the day’s other graded stakes, Misty Ocean ($11.60) led throughout to win her third in a row in her local debut in the $173,250 Honeymoon Handicap, and 2-1 second choice Rebellion won for the fourth time in seven starts on synthetic surfaces when rallying from last to take the $110,700 Ack Ack Handicap.

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bob.mieszerski@latimes.com