by Steve Scheuelein

Noe Garcia, groom of handicap star Lava Man, was seriously injured in an automobile accident near Del Mar early Monday morning, trainer Doug O’Neill reported.

“Details are still sketchy,” said O’Neill Monday afternoon. “But it seems he was rear-ended and his van spun around near the Via de la Valle exit off I-5, probably around 4:15 a.m.”

“He was taken to Scripps Hospital in La Jolla,” O’Neill said. “His left arm was severed, and he had head trauma, but he was alert.”

O’Neill said Garcia had Sunday off and was apparently returning to Del Mar from his home in Los Angeles. O’Neill said he was at Hollywood Park on Monday morning when he learned from assistant Leandro Mora at Del Mar that Garcia did not report to work at 5:30.

O’Neill thought the usually reliable groom had overslept before receiving the bad news from a Scripps official around 8 a.m.

Garcia, a 39-year-old native of Guatemala, has worked for O’Neill for 11 years and has groomed Lava Man since O’Neill claimed him for $50,000 in August 2004. Lava Man, a six-year-old Slew City Slew gelding, has earned more than $5-million.

Lava Man won a third straight Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) in his previous start on June 30, and is being prepared for the August 19 Pacific Classic Stakes (G1), which he won last year.

“Noe won four Gold Cups,” said O’Neill, pointing out that he also rubbed Sky Jack and contributed greatly to his victory. “Sky Jack had a knee that was constantly warm and blowing up.

“Noe was like a church mouse,” said O’Neill, crediting the groom’s quiet manner with calming horses. “His quietness was so good around horses. He was the first one there, and the last to leave.”

Steve Schuelein is a California-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent