tha lava man thread....

[paisjpq]

I respect Lave Man as a game, talented horse who will NOT run well outside of his home environment...

[TitanSooner]

Let him at least finish before we start talking about him.

[Pointg5]

I wonder why he can't travel, General Challenge was like that...It's not like he's just winning at one track out there, he's won at Hollywood, Santa Anita, and Del Mar and maybe some others that I am missing...Those can't all be similar surfaces, not to mention he's won on turf...

Wait, why did they bring him to the Big Dance? Why wouldn't they?

Well, he won four grade 1s, three million-dollar races and is currently the all-time leading Cal-bred. Shipping out aside, it wasn't like anyone wanted to come in to California and face him over his home track. You'd think a million bucks would be enough incentive, but the truth is nobody wanted to face him here. And not to make excuses, but I gave him every benefit of the doubt for his three previous clunkers outside of California. Not so much now, but before it was definitely debatable.

My take? California horses spend a lot of time shipping East yet Eastern horses rarely come West. Why is that? And no lame excuses like the tracks are faster here. Plenty of speedy types race on the Right Coast and Cali-based horses still beat them straight up. If anything you'd think that when Cali horses ship they'd find the "deeper" tracks a hurdle.

But that's just me...

[Kasept]

Lava Man is a notorious stallrunner.. When he leaves home, he'll pace and run the stall endlessly. It's just his make up. He's not comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings and frets at the upheaval. No way to cure that in the midst of a racing career, and no way to get one to perform his best if he has that composition.. The horse handlers here can better expand on this...

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Lava Man is a notorious stallrunner.. When he leaves home, he'll pace and run the stall endlessly. It's just his make up. He's not comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings and frets at the upheaval. No way to cure that in the midst of a racing career, and no way to get one to perform his best if he has that composition.. The horse handlers here can better expand on this...

Thus the dull coat!

He is such a good story. He is good for racing. Gives people like me the hope that one day we can get our hands on a Lava Man.

Originally Posted by Kasept

Lava Man is a notorious stallrunner.. When he leaves home, he'll pace and run the stall endlessly. It's just his make up. He's not comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings and frets at the upheaval. No way to cure that in the midst of a racing career, and no way to get one to perform his best if he has that composition.. The horse handlers here can better expand on this...

As it was told to me, he settled in pretty well at Keeneland from the minute he got there. And, truth be told, he's shipped all over the Southern California area (won at three different tracks) so he's conquered his stall running before. I've only stood outside his stall a half-dozen times or so and he was sleeping every time, once pretty soon after he shipped in to Santa Anita. So maybe the stallrunning is just who he is and not really a symptom of the whole shipping thing.

And the only person I truly trust in judging horseflesh who I know watched him a lot over his whole tenure with Doug O'Neill said he saw two completely different animals between the one training at Keeneland and the one who was at Churchill. He saw him the day he left for Louisville and again the following Thursday and said he thought to himself, "uh oh..."

Originally Posted by redransom

As it was told to me, he settled in pretty well at Keeneland from the minute he got there. And, truth be told, he's shipped all over the Southern California area (won at three different tracks) so he's conquered his stall running before. I've only stood outside his stall a half-dozen times or so and he was sleeping every time, once pretty soon after he shipped in to Santa Anita. So maybe the stallrunning is just who he is and not really a symptom of the whole shipping thing.

And the only person I truly trust in judging horseflesh who I know watched him a lot over his whole tenure with Doug O'Neill said he saw two completely different animals between the one training at Keeneland and the one who was at Churchill. He saw him the day he left for Louisville and again the following Thursday and said he thought to himself, "uh oh..."

He did look good at Keeneland. At Churchill he looked awful. Not sure what happened but he didnt look like the same horse at all.

[LARHAGE]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Lava Man is a notorious stallrunner.. When he leaves home, he'll pace and run the stall endlessly. It's just his make up. He's not comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings and frets at the upheaval. No way to cure that in the midst of a racing career, and no way to get one to perform his best if he has that composition.. The horse handlers here can better expand on this...

Exactly right, I mentioned that, I have a horse at my house that paces and screams and digs holes in her stall so deep you could bury a body in them, and that is if I merely switch her stall at home!!!

[boswd]

Originally Posted by redransom

Wait, why did they bring him to the Big Dance? Why wouldn't they?

Well, he won four grade 1s, three million-dollar races and is currently the all-time leading Cal-bred. Shipping out aside, it wasn't like anyone wanted to come in to California and face him over his home track. You'd think a million bucks would be enough incentive, but the truth is nobody wanted to face him here. And not to make excuses, but I gave him every benefit of the doubt for his three previous clunkers outside of California. Not so much now, but before it was definitely debatable.

My take? California horses spend a lot of time shipping East yet Eastern horses rarely come West. Why is that? And no lame excuses like the tracks are faster here. Plenty of speedy types race on the Right Coast and Cali-based horses still beat them straight up. If anything you'd think that when Cali horses ship they'd find the "deeper" tracks a hurdle.

But that's just me...

Basically the main reason in the past you would see more horses ship East than ship West is that 1. There are more graded stakes to choose form out East and 2. Those races carry much more weight in terms of Prestige. It just doesn't make much sense to go out West and run in the San Whatever Stakes when you can stay home and run in either The Pim Special The Whitney etc. Races that have a storied history. These races carry much more weight when it comes to voting and breeding. Wheather its fair or not is to be debated but it's the fact.