Gold Rush

$150,000 TVG Khaled Stakes
MR. WOLVERINE

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (Apr. 27, 2008) - Mr. Wolverine collared front-runner Epic Power in midstretch to win Sunday’s $150,000 TVG Khaled Stakes for California-breds on the Gold Rush card at Hollywood Park, with champion Lava Man finishing third.

Mr. Wolverine is a 6-year-old gelding by Last Lion, out of the L’Enjoleur mare April Mom, was bred by Elmer Ramos, was foaled at Rancho Santa Rosa, is owned by Begie, Dreyfus and Venneri Racing, is trained by Jorge Gutierrez and was ridden by Michael Baze.

"In the paddock, I moved him around a couple of times, you could see he was getting aggressive and he’s usually not like that," said Gutierrez. "I moved him down to the trees and he was great."

The $1,700 Barretts purchase has four wins in 11 starts, earnings of $274,866 and was coming off a second in the Mar. 16 Crystal Water. He ran the 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1:48.51 and won by 1 ¾ lengths at odds of 7-2.

"I thought we were in a really good spot and it was typical of a horse just needing a race," jockey Corey Nakatani said of Lava Man, making his first start in five months. "He broke sharp, got his feet up under him and hopefully it will be a good stepping-stone to the next one, and he’ll move forward off this race. He did everything he’s supposed to do – he just didn’t win."

Said Doug O’Neill, Lava Man’s trainer: "It’s kind of hard to tell, but obviously we were expecting a win, so we’re a little disappointed. But as long as he’s fine in the morning, we can battle another race. I thought he looked dynamite early on. He just got a little bit tired."

For Mr. Wolverine’s pedigree, click http://www.pedigreequery.com/mr+wolverine.