Who owns California?
 

It's the LAVA DUDE!

that was impressive

How can you not love this dude? Very game win today!

Great run by Lava Man. Confident ride by Corey.

So strange...he wins today giving a relaxed front runner 9 pounds, when they went 1:13 and change, you knew AP Xcellent would be a factor. He wins on the turf, on the dirt and now on the artificial surface...it sure is strange that he does so poorly outside California. Before today, you could credit it to the hard Cal dirt surfaces but that's out the window...it almost has to be the shipping itself...this guy must be a homebody! Great run and congrats on tying the great Native Diver's record!

its great and exciting and everything, but the fields are just not that good.
AP Xcellent got beat by a claimer (Sun Boat) in the gR11 Californian.

Now he gives the immortal Lava Man everything he can handle in a GR1 race?
While another claimer (Big Booster) makes a bold stretch move and finishes within a length of the top pair.

He doesn't like "sleepovers"!:)

Mitchell sure can make them run.

You know better than that, there were at least two quality horses (beside Lava Man) in the race....this was pure guts, giving 9 pounds and the horse had an easy lead off 1:13+ fraction...of course he's gonna be tough in the stretch. I sure didn't see anything impressive in the Suburban today!

Lava ran a great Race:D

But at least the Suburban brought us this gem of a quote from Kent D.;

"He didn't just slow down, his head came up in the air and said 'Not today. I'm just not up to it,' " Desormeaux said. "I banged on him a couple of times, but it was like spanking on dead wood."

You just never know what Kent will come up with next.

I hate it when that happens

:rolleyes:
 

Baby, every time we kiss, Hot Lava Man
And every time that we make love, that's Lava Man, Hot Lava Man
It's lava so hot, it makes me sweat
And lava so warm, it's red and wet
Mountain is rumbling, We must find a safer place

Soon half of Pele, Will fall upon your face
Great Nectar of the Gods spews far from Pinatabo
Mixed with a Women's Sweat, it makes the Lava Man we know
Baby, every time we kiss, Hot Lava
And every time that we make love, that's Lava Man, Hot Lava Man
It's lava so hot, it makes me sweat
And lava so warm, it's red and wet

Burnin' through the forest, Where Red hot lava flows
Rolls down the islands body, and into the ocean below
When it meets the cool, cool water, there's a big flow of the living
Rich magma flowing into a sobiquious environment, Produces Pillow Lava Man
And starts a pressure of sea water
Tends to inhabit the vesical size of the basalt
Baby, every time we kiss, Hot Lava Man
And every time that we make love, that's Lava Man, Hot Lava Man
It's lava so hot, it makes me sweat
And lava so warm, it's red and wet

And after the eruption, you lay dormant for a while
Let's just hold each other and talk, For now, Pele sleeps
Baby, every time we kiss, Hot Lava Man
And every time that we make love, that's Lava Man, Hot Lava Man
It's lava so hot, it makes me sweat
And lava so warm, it's red and wet
Baby, every time we kiss, Hot Lava Man
And every time that we make love, that's Lava Man, Hot Lava Man
It's lava so hot, it's red and wet
And lava so warm it makes me sweat.

Lava Man is a stall racer when he ships. He just can't relax and leave his race at home, California.

totally disagree, very soft pace set up things well for Lava Man, and gave APX a shot. Any type of honest pace and its another story.

not saying Lava man doesn't have guts, he does. but I sorta look at it like he is the best of a so-so bunch out there.

who were the quality horses in that field?

as bad as the Suburban field was I think it had better quality. no claimers. with a wimpy pace like that fairbanks would have wired that field. 2:00.5 final time in the Suburban versus 2:03 and change in the Gold cup. hmmm.

and people are always totally stumped why Lava Man doesn't win when he travels. it's not that complicated.

9 lbs is a TON to give in a race!

If Fairbanks could of wired the Gold Cup he would of stayed to do just that. There is a reason horses dont ship to take the easy money in California. Lava Man is one of them.

You actually using times on artificial surface vs dirt?? Surely you know better than that also!

welcome to the hotel california....

apparently lava man is an eagles fan, as he feels he can check out any time he likes, but he can never leave (and win). enjoy what you have, don't cry about what you don't. think positive, not dwell on the negative. enjoy this horse for what he does (and boy does he DO IT) rather than worrying about what he doesn't. is your glass half-full or half-empty?

congratulations to lava man et al, for tying the record set by a grand gelding, native diver! enjoy, enjoy, and hope and pray that they cut more often!! hell with the intact horses, who run a dozen or less times and then go off to make more single-digit runners that stick around long enough to pique your interest, but not long enough to slake it!

can he do it 4 times in a row? :eek:

it not about the surface, you said its so strange that he doesn't win when he ships, i'm just saying I don't think its strange at all. whenever they ship him they run him in much tougher races. i would think that would be obvious to you!

I agree.A grade 1 with claimers?It happens all the time in Cal. Crap Fields.Crap racing.Business As usual from Cal.

while it may be true about facing horses that are better when he ships, it is misleading to bring up times of the two races ran today.

Well it is either a 9 horse field sprinkled with some high priced claimer or a 4 to 6 horse field of mediocre horses. It doesn't matter where they run - thats the current state of horse racing

Not true. People will race where they think they can win for the most money.

Assmusen thought he had them so-so juvi fillies over the barrel too. They handed him his head.

So true...............:o

makes you wonder then why they don't ship out west for that easy win....but then, we've seen that before. someone ships out west, and they lose. and then those excuses start flying, just like when someone ships from out west!

Exactly...grade one races with big purses and all those "great" eastern-based horses don't ship for "easy money"...hard to explain. Before the excuse was the track surface but now...??? I'm a east coast guy but fair is fair...they said the same crap way back when...no cheap horse from Cal could beat the mighty War Admiral in a match race...how did that work out??

He simply doesn't fire at all in those out of state races.It's not the quality of horses that gets him beat.It's either the surface or he likes the warm days/cool nights that we pretty much get year round in L.A. If it was the quality of horses,then they would come face him here(they don't.)Even though Monmouth may be more like what he likes, I wouldn't go. For whatever reason,he just doesn't fire out of SOCAL.

Bailey was saying that Monmouth might indeed be more to his liking but I agree...he can wait for the BC to come to him. Still, since it doesn't appear to be the surface that gets him, you'd think some creative thinking might be in order...maybe van him in segments or go very early so he can acclimate...I don't know, something might work.

A replica of his stall? They've certainly got the cash to do it. :D

remember Lava Man was claimed for 50K.

Frankly, I'd try anything...one grade one win outside Cal and this horse would finally get the respect he deserves!

Thats a great quote from someone back east.

Out west he gets all of the respect he deserves. We have artificial surfaces out west now. Purses are great and so is the weather. Lets see some of those top back east horses find an excuse to not ship out west now.

Horse is game and gutty and a champ.

In Cali, that may be the case. Ship him and he's a whole different animal. I can't really knock him because he does get the job done over there.

A Cal bred field of 3 year old fillies would have been competitive in that joke of a Mother Goose, that hanging rat Octave was still trying to finish second, the field was so bad she won in spite of it. THAT was the worst Grade 1 today by FAR!!!! And if you think Political Force would have won the Gold Cup your nuts, that was a pathetic display of racing on the grand scale back east.

I agree the MOther Goose was a joke. A tad biased about PF as he got me caught up and then some bills wise. So Lava Man would have won the Suburban?? My opinion is no.

Lava Man is a claimer. AP Arrow was up the track after four third place finishes behind Premium Tap,Invasor,Corinthian and Papi Chullo and a win over Political Force. Big Booster may have found his surface and deserves some credit after closing into slow fractions his last two races.

I'm not contending that this field was good but if you point out that the claimers in the race or the contenders that were beaten by claimers made it a poor field then what does that say about the horses that AP Arrow has been running against? Granted he shipped cross country and ran on an unfamiliar surface.

Any of these horses including every horse in the Suburban could be claimers in their poorest form cycle. Who knows, maybe Big Booster is the best claim since Lava Man. Time will tell.