Cal-bred News

Lava Man looks to restore his luster
By BRAD FREE

ARCADIA, Calif. - The California Cup program needed more horses; Lava Man needed lesser competition. Both get their wish Saturday at Santa Anita.

The Oak Tree Racing Association hosts the 11-race, $1.3 million Cal Cup, bolstered by large fields and a genuine star. Lava Man's current form may be sketchy, yet the popular gelding will be heavily favored to end a two-race losing streak in the centerpiece race, the $250,000 Classic.

The California Cup also seeks rejuvenation. The all-Cal-bred program, now in its 18th year, remains an annual fall highlight. However, its popularity has waned - the $14.7 million handle on the 2006 event marked the fifth straight year that Cal Cup wagering has declined. Oak Tree vice president Sherwood Chillingworth expects the trend to reverse Saturday.

"What we need are fuller fields," Chillingworth said. "They were kind of skinny last year."

Mission accomplished - 110 horses entered the 2007 Cal Cup races, 23 more than ran last year. And while the biggest draw Saturday is a familiar seven-time Grade 1 winner, as many bettors will be wagering against Lava Man as those who consider him a virtual cinch.

Lava Man has won 17 races and $5.2 million from 42 starts, most since being claimed in 2004 for $50,000 by Steve and Dave Kenly and Jason Wood. Trainer Doug O'Neill has masterminded the 6-year-old gelding's career, and believes Lava Man can rebound after two sixth-place finishes as the favorite: last in the Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile, a one-mile grass race at Santa Anita Oct. 7, and in midpack on the slow Polytrack at Del Mar in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Aug. 19.

"Getting him back to a mile and an eighth on a real firm surface should [help]," O'Neill said. "He continues to show in the morning that he's every bit as energetic. We should see a big effort Saturday. If not, then he might need a little breather."

Skeptical bettors and rival horsemen will bank that Lava Man is over the top. The 124-pound topweight and class of the field, Lava Man is the 7-5 track favorite over 10 rivals. They include Bold Chieftan, a 6-for-12 stakes winner; Cheroot, runner-up in the 2006 Cal Cup Classic; improving 3-year-old Celtic Dreamin; and potential upsetter Valiant Effort.

The Cal Cup Classic is race 10 on an 11-race card, and is the penultimate leg in the pick six (races 6-11) with a guaranteed pool of $1 million. The card begins with two starter-allowance races, followed by eight stakes.

Runforthemoneybaby, third in the Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes, is the favorite in race 3, the $125,000 Juvenile Fillies at 1 1/16 miles.

Imagine drops from a Grade 1 and is the likely winner in race 4, the $100,000 Distance Handicap for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles on turf.

Bai and Bai will try to upset Somethinaboutlaura in race 5, the $150,000 Matron at 1 1/16 miles.

Grade 1 winner Dancing Edie runs in race 6, the $150,000 Distaff at 6 1/2 furlongs on turf.

Stakes winner My Reedemer must overcome post 14 in race 7, the $125,000 Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles.

Grade 1 winner Bilo returns in race 8, the $150,000 Sprint at six furlongs,

And in race 9, Epic Power will try to win the $150,000 Mile on turf for the second year.

Ending the pick six in race 11, after the Classic, second-time starter Apoplectic leads a field of 14 older maidens racing 6 1/2 furlongs on turf.

First post Saturday is early, 12 noon Pacific, and the crowd will just be settling in when Flip the Penny seeks his fifth straight win in race 1. While Flip the Penny enters the starter allowance (horses that started for $32,000) as the most rapidly improving horse on the card, Lava Man will enter the Classic as the horse with the most questions.

After he surrendered at the quarter pole last out in the Oak Tree Mile on turf, it was clear that Lava Man needed easier company, a different strategy, a shift in his training regimen, or all three. O'Neill's assistant Leandro Mora suggested a shift to daily gallops - working on the Hollywood Park training track instead of the main track.

"[Horses] can get sour going to one place all the time, and when you're not getting what you want, you switch to make your horse happier," Mora said. Lava Man began the training-track gallops a week and a half ago. "He has done way better - way better," Mora emphasized.

O'Neill agrees that the change in routine "seemed to liven him up a little bit."

O'Neill also believes a revised strategy Saturday will benefit the gelding. In his most recent start, Lava Man was rated behind the speed and failed to rally.

"He's a free-running horse; we won't be trying to save, save, save and then explode," O'Neill said. "That has never worked for him. He can take it to you early, that's always been his strength, and we'll go back to that this time."

Corey Nakatani, Lava Man's rider in his last 15 starts, is back aboard on Saturday.

If the favorite misfires, anything goes. Bold Chieftan returns to the main track after a fourth-place turf effort behind Cal Cup Mile starter Now Victory. From post 11, Bold Chieftan and jockey Russell Baze must use his speed.

A longshot worth consideration is Valiant Effort. His 1:09.30 six-furlong fraction last time was the fastest of the meet in 1 1/16-mile race on the main track, and though he only earned a 91 Beyer Figure winning by 7 1/2 lengths, he enters on an upward pattern for trainer Cliff Sise and jockey Alex Solis.

The last time Valiant Effort faced Lava Man, in June at Hollywood, he was used as a sacrificial pacesetter for After Market. Valiant Effort's intentions Saturday are to try to spring an upset.

"I ran against Lava Man once, on a suicide pace," Sise said. "This time, I'm not going to be the rabbit."

Talented colt gives Robbins a boost
By STEVE ANDERSEN
ARCADIA, Calif. - Little has changed for Jay Robbins since Tiznow won his second Breeders' Cup Classic at Belmont Park in 2001. Robbins still keeps a small stable at Santa Anita, not far from the quarter pole in Barn 27, which he has occupied for years.

The glory of training Tiznow, the 2000 Horse of the Year and the first and only repeat winner of the BC Classic, ended on that cold gray afternoon in New York six years ago, the colt's last start. Tiznow was retired to stud a few days later and Robbins, who has never had a large stable, returned to the comfort of Southern California.

In the ensuing years, Robbins, 62, has remained a fixture at Santa Anita, but has not been in the national spotlight.

Since Tiznow's departure, the soft-spoken Robbins has had just three stakes winners in six years. This weekend, he may be on the verge of adding to that list.

Saturday, in the $150,000 California Cup Sprint at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting, the highly promising Johnny Eves makes his stakes debut for Robbins.

There will be no wacky comparisons between Tiznow and the 3-year-old Johnny Eves. By this time in his 3-year-old season, Tiznow had won his first BC Classic.

"He was so good," Robbins said last weekend, reflecting on Tiznow's career. "The chances of getting another like that are virtually nil. To compare the horses I've had since then, it's not fair."

But Robbins is fast to mention Johnny Eves's potential. He has developed in recent months in a fashion that makes him one to watch on Saturday and through the winter.

And, Johnny Eves is somewhat typical of a Robbins-trained horse. He has been given ample time to develop, and is a homebred, owned and bred by Sharon Hilliard of Del Mar, Calif.

A winner of 3 of 7 starts, Johnny Eves did not start until April, because of a fractured tibia at 2. At the time, Johnny Eves was trained by the late Warren Stute. When Johnny Eves was ready to return to training earlier this year, Hilliard chose Robbins.

"I searched around hard to decide where I was going to move" Johnny Eves, she said.

Johnny Eves, a California-bred by Skimming, has evolved into the top horse in Robbins's stable. Johnny Eves is coming off the best race of his career, a front-running win in a first-level allowance race here on Sept. 26 for which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100.

That victory propelled him to the Cal Cup Sprint, where he will face Bilo, winner of the Grade 1 Triple Bend in July, but not Bordonaro, Greg's Gold, or Idiot Proof, California-breds that started in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Monmouth Park last weekend.

Keeping with his conservative approach, Robbins is not predicting victory in Saturday's six-furlong race.

"It will be steep enough," Robbins said. "He's giving away a lot of experience. He seems to be improving with every outing."

Johnny Eves beat maidens in his third start, in June at Hollywood Park, and won an allowance race for statebreds at Del Mar in August in his fifth start. Confirming his readiness for the Cal Cup Sprint, Johnny Eves worked five furlongs in 58.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Tuesday.

Johnny Eves is one of 10 horses in Robbins's barn. Earlier this year, he was down to three horses, but has since added new clients. Even with the publicity of winning two BC Classics, Robbins's stable did not grow after Tiznow was retired.

"I had difficulty getting along with some of the individuals involved," said Robbins, referring to prospective owners.

Saturday, Robbins will be after his first stakes win since Mazella won the minor Autumn Stakes at Hollywood Park last December. Even with Tiznow in the stable in 2001, Robbins had just 11 wins that season. In subsequent seasons, his best season was 2005, when he had 12 wins and stable earnings of $612,460. Through Wednesday, he has had four wins this year.

Johnny Eves is the best horse owned and bred by Hilliard, the wife of Del Mar Mayor Carl Hilliard. Johnny Eves was offered at the 2004 Keeneland November sale, but was repurchased for $19,000.

Sharon Hilliard holds a special attachment to Johnny Eves. She named him after her father and watched the gelding being foaled in February 2004.

"We really enjoy the babies and watching them grow and develop," she said. "In his case, I got to watch him being born."

Saturday, Johnny Eves may become a stakes winner, a milestone for the Hilliards and a chance for Robbins to regain the attention that goes with training an outstanding horse.

Patience pays off for Nevada Worrier
By STEVE ANDERSEN
ARCADIA, Calif. - In the spring, Nevada Worrier looked more like a candidate for maiden claimers than Saturday's $125,000 California Cup Juvenile at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting.

Nevada Worrier was winless in four two-furlong races at Bay Meadows and Santa Anita in the spring, races that almost never produce important horses. Then, owner-breeder Joe Duffel offered him at the Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training, hoping to sell the gelding for $40,000. Instead, he bought him back for $22,000 when bidding stalled.

But Duffel and trainer Jerry Wallace II have never given up on Nevada Worrier, who beat maidens at Del Mar in August and two starts later won the seven-furlong Cavonnier Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 8. On Saturday, Nevada Worrier will make his first start at 1 1/16 miles.

"Jerry thinks he can go that far, but all trainers think that they can," Duffel said. "The jockey said he has a gear he hasn't used yet. Of course, that gear could be reverse."

Duffel may sound cynical, but the 83-year-old horseman has a long involvement in racing and admits to being thrilled about Nevada Worrier's development.

Wallace, 43, says that Nevada Worrier deserves a chance in the Juvenile, even though the colt is by the sprinter Lord Carson, which suggests distance could be an issue.

"Every race has been another test for him," Wallace said. "As long as he keeps answering the challenges, we have to stretch him out. He hasn't shown us he won't do that. We always know we can back him up."

A winner of 2 of 8 starts and $99,019, Nevada Worrier has essentially had two seasons this year. He was trained by Shane Chipman and then Brian Koriner in the spring, with his best result for either of them a second at Bay Meadows on April 19. After failing to sell, Nevada Worrier was sent to Wallace, and he improved almost immediately.

The gelding finished fourth as a maiden in the Everett Nevin Alameda County Fair Futurity at Pleasanton on July 1, and pulled a 10-1 upset in a maiden special weight for statebreds at Del Mar. He followed with a seventh-place finish in the I'm Smokin Stakes at Del Mar and the win in the Cavonnier. In his last three starts, Nevada Worrier has been ridden by Jon Court.

Wallace dismisses Nevada Worrier's seventh in the I'm Smokin, saying the gelding was found to have a virus.

"He wasn't 100 percent," Wallace said. "We don't know how much that virus cost him."

For Wallace, Nevada Worrier has been a milestone horse, providing him with his first stakes win at Santa Anita. Wallace, who has 15 horses in training, is in his second year of full-time Thoroughbred training, having previously had a small stable of cheap Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos. Prior to that, he broke yearlings at Mira Loma Thoroughbreds and operated a home security business.

"This started out as a hobby and it grew," he said.

Wallace has won 20 races from 232 starters, with $380,254 in earnings. Seven of those wins and about $200,000 in earnings have come this year.

Wallace is the son of the singer Jerry Wallace, who recorded the 1959 hit "Primrose Lane." The elder Wallace still follows racing at the Victorville, Calif., satellite location, his son said.

Jerry Wallace never considered following his father in music.

"I grew up in it," Wallace said. "It wasn't appealing. I saw how much work it was."

Through the summer, Wallace has tried to teach Nevada Worrier to be more patient from the gate, hoping to undo some of the lessons learned in the hectic two-furlong races in the spring. Nevada Worrier came from off the pace against maidens at Del Mar and in the Cavonnier. He must do so again to have any chance in the longer California Cup Juvenile.

"He learned to respond to the rider and not run off like a maniac," he said. "You're able to control him and he'll do what you ask."

Duffel bred Nevada Worrier on his farm in Wheatland, Calif., near Sacramento. He keeps 100 horses on the property, mostly Thoroughbreds. Duffel owned Pencil Point, winner of the 1982 Bing Crosby Handicap at Del Mar. Even at his age, he still works in real estate and farms prunes, rice, and walnuts.

"I've worked all my life," he said. "I enjoyed it then and I enjoy it now. You can't chase women as much, at least not as fast. You can't drink as much. Half of your friends have died. I might as well work."

Might as well have a stakes winner in the barn as well, especially one that has come a lot farther than expected.