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Lava Man chalks up seventh in a row in Goodwood Despite shouldering the top weight of 126 pounds, LAVA MAN (Slew City Slew) continued his perfect 2006 campaign with a commanding, 2 1/4-length victory beneath Corey Nakatani in the $500,000 Goodwood Breeders' Cup H. (G2) at Oak Tree at Santa Anita on Saturday. In his final tune-up for the November 4 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), the Doug O'Neill charge set a pressured pace along the rail, clocking fractions of :23 1/5, :46 4/5 and 1:10 3/5. Unleashing his trademark burst of speed on the far turn, the 3-5 Lava Man kicked away from the field and strode clear into the stretch, reeling off a mile in 1:34 4/5 and sailing past the wire in a final time of 1:48 for the fast-track nine furlongs. "At the start, I was wanting to make sure that I was in the race," Nakatani explained. "Let him show them what he is made of, and he did. He was giving away a lot of weight today, too. Like I said, his best asset is when he takes the race to them when you call on him. He is just a special animal. He reminds me of a Cigar, a Sunday Silence." "This horse just keeps running big races," O'Neill marveled. "I'll have to dissect this one, but it sure seemed like he ran as good a race as he ever has." Brother Derek (Benchmark) acquitted himself honorably in his first attempt against his elders, attending the pace throughout and keeping on determinedly for second, one length in front of the belatedly closing Giacomo (Holy Bull). Preachinatthebar (Silver Charm) tired after battling Lava Man early and checked in fourth, followed home by Super Frolic (Pine Bluff), Magnum (Arg) (El Compinche) and Romeo Plus (Arg) (Alpha Plus). The winner rewarded his supporters with payouts of $3.20, $2.20 and $2.10, keying the $1 exacta worth $6.60 and the $1 trifecta (4-7-2) that yielded $21.50. Sent off as the near 9-2 second choice in the wagering, Brother Derek returned $3.40 and $2.40, and the 8-1 Giacomo provided $2.40 to show. Lava Man races in the colors of STD Racing Stable and Jason Wood, who claimed him for $50,000 at Del Mar in August 2004. Promptly turned over to O'Neill, the dark bay gelding competed well in stakes company the rest of that year, but really came to hand in 2005 when landing the Hollywood Gold Cup H. (G1) and Californian S. (G2). Lava Man has reached the peak of his powers this season, compiling a perfect seven-for-seven mark. In addition to making history by becoming the first horse to win the Santa Anita H. (G1), Hollywood Gold Cup and Pacific Classic (G1) in the same year, he has added the Sunshine Millions Classic S. to his resume and proven equally successful on the turf in the Charles Whittingham Memorial H. (G1) and Khaled S. Bred by Lonnie Arterburn, Eve Kuhlmann and Kim Kuhlmann in California, Lava Man was produced by the winning Nostalgia's Star mare Li'l Ms. Leonard. He has a yearling half-brother by High Brite named Li'l Brite Star. Lava Man has now amassed $3,804,706 in earnings from his 34-14-7-3 record, a mark he will seek to enhance in the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs. "We're very proud and very excited to take on horses outside California again," O'Neill said. "Nothing against the horses that he's been running against here, but this is a new challenge and we've got to prove ourselves. We're going to go about it (shipping out-of-state) a little differently this time. We're going to ship to Kentucky at least three weeks out." Nakatani is looking forward to the Classic. "I watched Bernardini today, and he was very impressive (in the Jockey Club Gold Cup S. [G1])," Nakatani said. "It's going to be fun leading up to the Breeders' Cup. We're ready for him."
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