We'll be seeing Lava Man soon?

[CBedo]

From DRF:

"O'Neill said he has no set plans for a comeback race for Lava Man, but is hoping to start the 8-year-old gelding during the Hollywood Park fall meeting, which runs from Nov. 13 to Dec. 20."

[andymays]

Saturday, November 20, 2009

Lava Man is on his way back and he looks about ready. He was strong here in 112 flat and 125.3 for seven furlongs. He looks like his old self with big late kick in the morning followed by big gallop out. He hasn't lost that much.

From Bruno DeJulio www.racingwithbruno.com

[joanied]

Saturday, November 20, 2009

Lava Man is on his way back and he looks about ready. He was strong here in 112 flat and 125.3 for seven furlongs. He looks like his old self with big late kick in the morning followed by big gallop out. He hasn't lost that much.

From Bruno DeJulio www.racingwithbruno.com (http://www.racingwithbruno.com)

It's good to know he's doing so well, and looks great...thanks for the update.
When he does get to his first race back...I'll be holding my breath and rooting for him:jump:

[Zenyatta To Crush]

It's good to know he's doing so well, and looks great...thanks for the update.
When he does get to his first race back...I'll be holding my breath and rooting for him:jump:
I wonder if Stauffer will be able to get any words out if Lava Man wins in his first race back.

[joanied]

I wonder if Stauffer will be able to get any words out if Lava Man wins in his first race back.

:lol: He might get a little tounge-tied from getting over excited:jump:

[andymays]

No Mas! He had everything his way on the lead and faded badly.

[nijinski]

Wish he had come back in a softer spot , sad to see a last place finish.

Just hoping they don't expect too much from him , he's been through alot .

[Robert Fischer]

no fans bet him , and they probably didn't even know he was running.

waste of an underlay opportunity

[Dahoss9698]

no fans bet him , and they probably didn't even know he was running.

waste of an underlay opportunity

He was probably still an underlay at 7-1, but I understand your point.

[Tom]

The jock said he felt better than did when he ran a year and a half ago - like a new horse, but tired - understandable after a long layoff.
He'll be back in better form this season. I'm sure after he was passed, he was allowed to cruise.

[picojim]

from Equibase charts:

LAVA MAN sped to the early lead and angled in, set the pace inside, dueled on the second turn, came out into the stretch, dropped back between foes past the eighth pole and weakened, then returned cut on both hind legs.

[Space Monkey]

Wish he had come back in a softer spot , sad to see a last place finish.

My sentiments exactly. What were they thinking??? How about a 6F OC?? Duh?? He would have cruised. How incredibly stupid are his connections??!!! Lava Man is a modern day medical experiment in horse racing. If looking at it from that perspective shouldn't his return to racing begin at somewhat of a lower level? Compare it to a boxer taking a tune up fight before the title fight? Let him romp in a lower class sprint, build his confidence, and give his fans something to cheer about. It would also have given justification to some of the critics for his treatment, which is controversial.

[Tom]

They pointed out his cuts in the post race interview - no one was concerned about them. Probably hit the gate but nothing serious.

[Dahoss9698]

My sentiments exactly. What were they thinking??? How about a 6F OC?? Duh?? He would have cruised. How incredibly stupid are his connections??!!! Lava Man is a modern day medical experiment in horse racing. If looking at it from that perspective shouldn't his return to racing begin at somewhat of a lower level? Compare it to a boxer taking a tune up fight before the title fight? Let him romp in a lower class sprint, build his confidence, and give his fans something to cheer about. It would also have given justification to some of the critics for his treatment, which is controversial.

He would have cruised in a 6 furlong race? I doubt it. Granted, this was probably a poor spot for his return, but I'm not so sure the result would have been any different regardless of the class of the race.

[InsideThePylons-MW]

It's just a bad thing to do for the horse and the owners are in such a horrible spot I can't possibly imagine why they have brought him back.

He really can't make anything monetarily that would be a significant profit after expenses.

If he breaks down on the track and is put down.....oh my....that would be horrible for horse racing. The connections would be in deep shiit with the public and some of the people in the industry.

I see it as a lose only situation......but what do I know.

[OntheRail]

You know it was pretty crass for O'Neal to say he was disappointed in Lava Man performance. When it was clearly O'Neal that failed Lava Man. They should of placed him better and picked a 7f for him to run at... I think he showed well for first time back and on turf. Hell it's a Miracle that he can run at all.

[Mineshaft]

these knuckleheads thought they could run 1-2-3 coming off a 18 month layoff going 1 1/8.


what the hell were they thinking? And a Grade 2 race to boot. Freakin morons

[Mineshaft]

Wish he had come back in a softer spot , sad to see a last place finish.

Just hoping they don't expect too much from him , he's been through alot .





they expected a 1-2-3 finish.

Story is on drf.com

[andymays]

If Lava Man was right he should have been working regularly (about every 7 days) and he wasn't. Take a look at the PP's.

[andymays]

HORSE RACING: Lava Man's comeback is forgettable
http://www.sgvtribune.com/sports/ci_14079420

Excerpt:

Trainer Doug O'Neill later admitted it may have been Lava Man's final race.
"There's a chance," he said. "I would say so, sure."

Excerpt:

"I'm bummed," O'Neill said. "I definitely was very eager to see him run today because he had been training like the Lava Man of old ... I thought we'd see a better performance, but in his defense he had been off an awfully long time and they flew home."

Jockey Tyler Baze broke on top with the son of Slew City Slew and the duo set moderate fractions of 24.06, 48.14 and 1:11.81. But when the time came for the real running, Lava Man's tank was empty.

"Tyler says he got tired, so I'm going to go with that, but I don't know," co-owner Jason Wood said. "You can write it up for being tired, but he shouldn't be tired at that point when you go 48

[johnhannibalsmith]

Ordinarily, I enjoy reading comments from the heart. I find it refreshing when people offer up honest quotes for print. This ignorant nonsense from STD and camp, on the other hand, is maddening.

Perhaps, maybe it is your perception - Kenley, Wood, et al - that is skewered. Maybe you should just admit that you underestimated the competition and overestimated your own horse and where he was at.

Disappointed? Should have been 1-2-3?

I admit that I never was on the Lava Man bandwagon - just thought he was a neat handicap horse, but not nearly the amazing, brilliant, scintillating campaigner that he was portrayed as throughout his career.

What I saw yesterday was an old horse that had been off for nearly a couple of years and ran a creditable race given what he was asked to accomplish. You nitwits are disappointed that he didn't fulfill your unrealistic expectations?

Go **** yourselves.

[joanied]

With the holidays upon us, I haven't been posting much...but like most of us, I was looking foward to Lava Man's come back race...and when I saw what it was, I thought it was a little to much to ask of him...17 months away, all the stem cell stuff...I agree with those of you that said ONeill shoulda found a softer spot. His hurting himself out of the gate and bleeding the entire race sure didn't help...I am crushed about this...I feel sad for Lava Man because I think he's intelligent enough to know he lost this race...now I am thinking that they never shoulda brought him back...at first I was doubtful, but as time went by, I thought maybe the old boy was really enjoying himself being back...now, I don't know.
I guess we'll have to wait and see how he is doing after this race...but I have changed my mind and beleive that the stem cell work was a good thing...it would allow Lava Man to enjoy his retirement, living out his life relatively pain free...so he could run in his paddock and enjoy his senior years.
At this point, I hope they decide to just retire him...for good.

On the other side of the coin...Humberto winning with Proudinski is fine with me...the more races Humberto wins, the happier I feel and no doubt Bobby is looking down from his barn in Heaven and feeling mighty pleased and happy for his friend.

[Spalding No!]

If Lava Man was right he should have been working regularly (about every 7 days) and he wasn't. Take a look at the PP's.

Doug O'Neill hardly ever worked Lava Man on a typical once-a-week schedule, even at his peak. Given all the baggage the horse was carrying, I don't think its absurd to think that extending the days between works was intentional, particularly when they seemed to be following a once-every-10 days schedule.

[andymays]

Doug O'Neill hardly ever worked Lava Man on a typical once-a-week schedule, even at his peak. Given all the baggage the horse was carrying, I don't think its absurd to think that extending the days between works was intentional, particularly when they seemed to be following a once-every-10 days schedule.


You're right about the way O'Neill works most of his horses. My point is that he should have pushed him more in the works to make sure he was fit rather than being embarrassed like he was. If he was right he should have been able to withstand a 7 day work pattern.

[macguy]

Why not run him back in an allowance race or optional claimer?
Being away for so long he would have been eligible for all of the N1X races.

[Spalding No!]

You're right about the way O'Neill works most of his horses. My point is that he should have pushed him more in the works to make sure he was fit rather than being embarrassed like he was. If he was right he should have been able to withstand a 7 day work pattern.

Yeah, I don't think they gave him much of a chance to make a successful comeback by starting him out in a top level race. Ironic, given all the caution, expense, and care afforded Lava Man just to make it back into race training to begin with.

[Space Monkey]

He would have cruised in a 6 furlong race? I doubt it. Granted, this was probably a poor spot for his return, but I'm not so sure the result would have been any different regardless of the class of the race.

True, DaHoss, we don't really know for sure how he would have done sprinting against cheaper. But to me he showed enough Sat to prove to me he would have chewed up lesser. I always thought he was a miler anyway. One of those front running types that was almost always all out to hold on against top competition going long. I think it would have done wonders for his confidence if O'Neill had taken a different approach to this. I'll draw a boxing analogy. Lava Man should have taken a "tune up" fight instead of jumping right in against a top contender. Too bad. I hope they retire him.

[andymays]

You're right about the way O'Neill works most of his horses. My point is that he should have pushed him more in the works to make sure he was fit rather than being embarrassed like he was. If he was right he should have been able to withstand a 7 day work pattern.



http://www.drf.com/news/article/109758.html

Excerpt:

ARCADIA, Calif. - The last-place finish by Lava Man in Sunday's $150,000 San Gabriel Handicap at Santa Anita left trainer Doug O'Neill blaming himself for not having the 8-year-old gelding fit enough for his first start in 18 months and pondering how to approach a 2010 campaign.

O'Neill said Lava Man could be sent to veterinarian Doug Herthel at Alamo Pintado Equine Clinic in central California for a medical checkup in coming days. The trainer indicated that a start in January is possible for the gelding, who has won 17 of 47 starts, $5,268,706, and seven Grade 1 races.