lava loses in cali

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Your right, it was not the intention. But the whole group just waited for them to die and moved as a unit right past them. Again, I think Lava Man was moved a bit too early. And he was weighted heavily. He shall return...

But he did get smoked. I still love the horse. They still tried to lay the law down with him by moving first. That was courage(or stupidity) and Lava Man gave it all he had.

It was the same old Lava Man, always consistent and game. this time he was a little short against a sharp horse.

[Zoe]

Lava Man is a nice horse, but in my opinion certainly overrated. He hasn't run a step outside of Cali and in After Market he faces the first horse in his home state with any top shelf kind of ability...and gets beaten.
LM needs to beat some top runners instead of continuing his same conquests at the same tracks in the same races. Articles comparing this horse to John Henry are absurd.

[TitanSooner]

bla bla bla bla bla.... some won't be happy until racing in California is gone.

[Pedigree Ann]

Yeah, East Coast horses who don't reproduce their form elsewhere didn't ship well, while West Coast horses who don't reproduce their form elsewhere are garbage. Do you have any idea of how long I have been hearing this refrain? (Try 37 years.) English Channel didn't win yesterday, either, you know.

[Zoe]

I'm not defending or criticizing any "coasts" here at all...I'm referring strictly to a horse who some think is "the next John Henry" that not only can't win anywhere but his home tracks but gets his own arse handed to him in a big way at any other venues.
East Coast, West Coast, wherever, you have to be able to take it on the road to be a true champ - LM just doesn't cut it. Winning the Gold Cup for a seventh time won't change that either. Again, he is a very nice horse, but certainly not one of the truly elite horses of the last few years.

[Danzig]

i'll say! comparing him to john henry is ridiculous! both multiple graded stakes, multi-million dollar winning geldings by obscure sires...obviously not at all alike.

no, honestly i haven't seen anyone compare the two. lava man is definitely not an elite horse in all seriousness, but he's no nag either. nags don't win that kind of money, those kinds of races. he's not overrated, i think anyone who follows the sport gives lava man his just due, and knows not to be any money. won't win outside cali, and odds are too short inside to make it worthwhile.

[2Hot4TV]

I don't mean to open a can of worms, but who did John Henry beat? I remember his races and there wasn't any big dominating horses during the late 70's and the 80's. John could ship and win so in my book that puts him right up with Cigar which didn't have alot of world beaters knocking down his door during his run. Lava Man does matches well with John Henry on dirt and turf until they ship.

[King Glorious]

It's hard for me to believe Lava Man was cooked by a rabbit that was nearly 10 lengths in front of him. They hit the 6f mark in 1:10.24 and Lava Man was just over eight lengths back at that point meaning he ran it in about 1:11 2/5 I don't believe that a 1:11 2/5 6f is going to cook Lava Man, at least not the Lava Man we've seen the past couple of years here. The move he made to go for the lead was the same move he's made in all of his other winning races. I don't think it was too soon. Just this time, he had a horse run him down. There have plenty of races in his streak that if there was anything even remotely capable, they would have run him down. But there wasn't. Yesterday was and the six pound weight difference didn't do him any favors either.

[The Bid]

Theres noway he should have lost to that bunch. He did take a pretty hard bump at the break. Probably with no bumping at the break he wins. Also thought Nakatani left just a touch too soon trying to get the jump. Hes back on Bute and whatever else O'neill uses in Cali so hopefully big things from Lava in the near future.