Charles Whittingham Memorial

With his commanding two-length victory in Saturday's $300,000

Charles

Whittingham Memorial H. (G1), LAVA MAN (Slew City Slew) not only joined an

elite club of horses who have won Grade 1 events on both dirt and turf. He also

became the first to emulate the great Exceller by landing both the Hollywood

Gold Cup (G1) on the main track and this prize formerly known as the Hollywood

Invitational Turf H. (G1). When Exceller accomplished the feat in 1978, he was

trained by none other than Charlie Whittingham.

Sporting the colors of STD Racing Stable and Jason Wood, Lava Man wasted no

time in imposing his authority on the race. Regular rider Corey Nakatani guided

the Doug O'Neill charge straight to the front through soft fractions of :24 4/5,

:49 4/5 and 1:14 3/5. Nearing the far turn, King's Drama (Ire) (King's Theatre

[Ire]) advanced menacingly and looked Lava Man right in the eye, but the winner

quickened away from him, getting the mile in 1:37 1/5, and was never threatened

in the stretch as he finished 1 1/4 miles in 2:00 1/5 on the firm turf. King's

Drama held second by 1 1/4 lengths over a rallying Red Fort (Ire) (Green

Desert), who just got up by a nose for third, relegating defending Whittingham

champion Sweet Return (GB) (Elmaamul) to fourth.

"Awesome, wasn't it?" Nakatani said. "It was just a tremendous race. He

reminds me of a horse like John Henry. He's won on turf and dirt. He can do it

all."

Artiste Royal (Ire) (Danehill), Molengao (Brz) (Royal Academy), T. H.

Approval (With Approval) and Runaway Dancer (Runaway Groom) completed the order

under the wire. Brecon Beacon (GB) (Spectrum) was vanned off the track after

pulling up on the backstretch.

The top three choices in the wagering finished as their odds had projected.

The 4-5 Lava Man rewarded his legion of supporters with payouts of $3.80, $2.60

and $2.40. King's Drama left the gate at 3-1, returning $3.40 and $2.60. Third

choice Red Fort gave back $2.80 at nearly 5-1. The $1 exotics were worth $5.80

(exacta), $15.70 (trifecta) and $68.60 (8-5-3-2 superfecta), with the 13-1 Sweet

Return in fourth.

By adding a third Grade 1 victory to his rapidly expanding resume, Lava Man

improved his scorecard to 31-11-7-3 with $2,454,706 in his account. In addition

to his historic Hollywood double, the five-year-old gelding captured the Santa

Anita H. (G1) earlier this year along with the Sunshine Millions Classic S. and

most recently, the Khaled S. in a course-record time of 1:44 1/5 for the grassy

1 1/8 miles at Hollywood. His other graded stakes success came in last year's

Californian S. (G2).

Bred in California by Lonnie Arterburn, Eve Kuhlmann and Kim Kuhlmann, the

winner is a prime example of a rags-to-riches story. Having begun his career in

the lowly ranks, Lava Man was famously claimed for $50,000 by O'Neill at Del Mar

in August of 2004 and has competed almost exclusively in stakes company ever

since. He is out of the winning Li'l Ms. Leonard (Nostalgia's Star), who has a

yearling colt by High Brite named Li'l Brite Star.

O'Neill said that Lava Man will be in peak form when he seeks to defend his

title in the July 8 Hollywood Gold Cup.

"I think he is better than ever," the trainer said. "Obviously, we've got a

top-quality turf horse, but I still think his best races and his style is more

geared to speed and stamina that kicks butt on dirt."