NEWS

Lava Man returns in Native Diver

Posted: Friday, December 11, 2009 11:07 AM

LAVA MAN

Benoit & Associates photo

by Tim Nichols

More than a year ago, connections for three-time Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (G1) winner Lava Man were ready to ship the retired gelding to Old Friends, a Thoroughbred retirement facility in Kentucky.

Something happened between then and now, though. According to his owners, Lava Man longed for a return to the track rather than life in the pasture. Now after stem-cell treatments and ankle surgeries, Lava Man will return to action in the $100,000 Native Diver Handicap (G3) on Saturday at Hollywood Park.

“It’s hard to tell how we will do after such a long layoff,” Lava Man’s trainer Doug O’Neill said. “He’s training phenomenal. He probably needs a race or two before he’s back at the top-level, but he’s shown us he’s ready to return at major competition.”

Lava Man’s connections retired the Slew City Slew gelding following his sixth-place finish in the Eddie Read Handicap (G1) in July 2008, citing ankle issues. His owners and trainer were encouraged, however, when innovative stem-cell therapy and arthroscopic ankle surgery appeared to correct Lava Man’s health issues.

He soon returned to the training track, and more than year later, will return to one of the sites that made him a West Coast icon. Lava Man won a record three consecutive Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes from 2005-’07.

“We got stem cells from bone marrow in his sternum and did the therapy to help restore the health of his cartilage,” said Doug Hearthal, D.V.M., of the Alamo Pintado Equine Clinic, who treated Lava Man. “We saw improvement right away. He’s been sound for the last nine months.

“He hasn’t been treated for more than three months, although we did a bone scan since he returned to the stable, and everything looked real good.”

Rather than an allowance race against lesser competition, the now eight-year-old Lava Man will dive right in and face five rivals that include a pair of Grade 1 winners in the 1 1/8-mile test on the synthetic Cushion Track surface.

Mast Track snapped Lava Man’s Hollywood Gold Cup streak in 2008 with a 2 1/4-length win. He also finished second to Rail Trip in the ’09 Gold Cup with eventual Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (G1) winner Life Is Sweet third.

Trainer Humberto Ascanio will saddle Mast Track, who was bred, owned, and trained by the late Bobby Frankel. The five-year-old Mizzen Mast horse will try for his first win of the year and snap a nine-race winless skid dating back to his '08 Hollywood Gold Cup triumph.

“He has been training real well and I expect a good effort out of him in the race,” Ascanio said.

Two of Lava Man’s stablemates will start the Native Diver. O’Neill also will saddle Square Eddie winless since taking the 2008 Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (G1), and allowance winner High Court Drama (Ire).

Other competitors include Grade 2 winner Tres Borrachos and Grade 2-placed Neko Bay.

Tim Nichols is internet content editor for Thoroughbred Times

Native Diver H.