Lava Man

[P-Dub]

Shanny,
Yes, as a left coaster I tend to back my \"own\". Your points were certainly not without merit.

Yes, incredulous is a word.

As Fkach pointed out, there were some other things that one could point to as reasons for past shipping failures. But since there is a pattern to his poor efforts (i.e. every time he ships) it looks like its tough to make that point an ymore. Lets hope he returns sound and get back his form when he races in Cal again.

[P-Dub]

Lost Cause Wrote:
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> Any good East coast horse would beat Lava
> Man...Who, besides the worst derby winner of all
> time, has he ever beaten of any significance??


If its that easy to beat him, then why don\'t these horses come out to California to do just that?? Or is a $1M purse in races with as much prestige as the Big Cap or Hollywood Gold Cup not good enough??

[fkach]

>I think the reason Lava Man ran last is that Corey Nakatani had him uncharacteristically pressing the pace.<

Barry,

I\'m not sure what that means. He\'s won on the lead and from just off the pace in the past.

Unless that pace was very fast (it was hard for me to tell visually), he should have hung around better than that if he was on his \"A\" game. Personally, I thought racing on turf in Dubai was a mistake, but I think he would have done better against those same horses if the race was in CA.  He probably would have lost anyway, but it would have been closer.

[Barry Irwin]

Team Valor ran a 6yo So African mare named Irridescence in the Duty Free.

She spent the first 6 furlongs on the lead looking left at the automobile with the mobile camera. She was pressed every step of the way by Lava Man.

Irridescence ran unquestionably the worst race of her life, yet she beat the three American representatives.

From this one must conclude that American grass form ain\'t much.

[docicu3]

So does this mean that if Lava dude repeats last years record or anywhere close to it that they should skip the trip to NJ this fall?

[Lost Cause]

They\'ll probably still make the trip because of the money involved but the result will be the same...another outside of CA loss..

[manning]

Lost Cause Wrote:
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> They\'ll probably still make the trip because of
> the money involved but the result will be the
> same...another outside of CA loss..


According to O\'Neill you\'ll not see him at the Breeders\' Cup this year:


\"I thought for sure Lava Man bled, but he scoped clean and walked sound,\" O\'Neill said.

The loss, Lava Man\'s fifth defeat outside of California in the last 18 months, has left O\'Neill convinced that the 6-year-old gelding should race exclusively in California.

\"We\'ll never leave California again,\" O\'Neill said. \"It\'s obvious there is a link.\"