Cal-bred News

Lava Man Headlines Sunshine Millions

ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 26, 2007) Lava Man, the most prosperous claim in racing history, turns his attention to grass racing on Saturday when the defending Classic champion lends his star power to the $500,000 San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino Sunshine Millions Turf event at Santa Anita.

The fifth Sunshine Millions, the series of eight races worth $3.6 million that matches California and Florida-breds at Gulfstream Park as well as at Santa Anita, is the sport’s richest day of state-bred racing.

At the age of six, Lava Man --- who has earned a record $3,706,103 since being claimed for $50,000 by STD Racing Stable and Jason Wood at Del Mar two summers ago --- might find turf to be his preferred surface while furthering a career that has been likened to that of the legendary John Henry.

Trainer Doug O’Neill’s California-bred son of Slew City Slew will face 11 challengers in the mile-and-one-eighth competition that will serve as the richest turf race of Lava Man’s career. While winning seven successive stakes races last year beginning with the Sunshine Millions Classic, he captured Hollywood Park’s $300,000 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap, his most lucrative grass victory to date.

In addition to the 2007 debut of Lava Man, Santa Anita’s four-race portion of Sunshine Millions Day includes a showdown between Grade I winners Bordonaro and Proud Tower Too in the $300,000 Sprint; Take D’Tour, a winner of 6 of her last 9 starts including Belmont Park’s Grade I Ogden Phipps Handicap, spearheading the $500,000 Distaff, and the $250,000 Oaks at six furlongs for 3-year-old fillies.

A special early first post of 11:45 a.m. will be in effect at Santa Anita on Sunshine Millions Day. On a 10-race program, the Sunshine Millions events will be the second through the fifth. Much of the competition will be televised live nationally by NBC between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. locally.

The complete field for the Sunshine Millions Turf, with jockeys and weights in post position order: Railroad, Aaron Gryder, 122; Wild Buddy, Jon Court, 122; Revved Up, Eddie Castro, 122; Icy Atlantic, Eibar Coa, 122; El Don, Alex Solis, 122; Go Between, David Flores, 120; Jack’s Wild, Brice Blanc, 122; Running Free, Danny Sorenson, 122; Sabre Baby, Jorge Chavez, 122; Sherwood Park, Alex Bisono, 122; Lava Man, Corey Nakatani, 122, and Super Strut, Tyler Baze, 122. Also eligible: Maraquero, Richard Monterrey, 122.

Lava Man has posted a solid career record in his 11 starts on grass: 5-3-0. But only $357,704 of his $3,804,706 lifetime earnings have been achieved on that surface. O’Neill is not committed to a strict grass future for the gelding who last year swept Southern California’s elite main track races for older horses: the Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup and Del Mar’s Pacific Classic. “Right now, the priority is for grass races,” said O’Neill, “but that could change.”

The Turf’s winning purse of $275,000 would send Lava Man’s lifetime bankroll over $4 million to $4,079,706. He enters the race with a 14-7-3 record in 35 starts. Lava Man’s unbeaten streak of 2006 unraveled when he faded to seventh behind Invasor in the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Regular rider Corey Nakatani retains the mount on Lava Man, who drew post No. 11. His 122-pound weight assignment is the same as his principal rivals.

Lava Man’s competition in the Turf includes Florida shippers Go Between, winner of Grade II Virginia Derby last July, and Revved Up, a 9-year-old gray millionaire who has won his last three starts including the Grade III Sycamore Breeders’ Cup Stakes at Keeneland in October.

The Sprint will send Proud Tower Too, who defeated eventual Breeders’ Cup Sprint champion Thor’s Echo twice last year before hitting the sidelines, against Bordonaro, fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint following 9 victories in his 11 previous starts. Although both are California based and bred, the two crack sprinters have never met.

Proud Tower Too prepared for the Sunshine Millions Sprint by running a close third in Santa Anita’s El Conejo Handicap on New Year’s Day, his comeback race after defeating Thor’s Echo by 1 ¼ lengths in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen last March 25 in the United Arab Emirates.

Bordonaro defeated Thor’s Echo by one length as the odds-on favorite in Oak Tree’s Grade I Ancient Title Breeders’ Cup Handicap last October. Thor’s Echo was 14-1 when he scored his Breeders’ Cup upset. Trainer Bill Spawr named Richard Migliore to replace injured Patrick Valenzuela aboard Bordonaro. The 6-year-old gelding, owned by Fred Carrillo and Daniel Cassella, has earned $750,794 from 9 wins in 13 starts.

Proud Tower Too, a 5-year-old homebred owned by Tricar Stable Inc., shows earnings of $1,645,572 from a record of 7-3-2 in 20 starts. David Cohen, who has been aboard for his last six starts, has the riding call in the six-furlong event. Bordonaro, No. 7, and Proud Tower Too, No. 8, drew side-by-side in the field of nine. Each carries 122 pounds.

The complete field for the Sunshine Millions Sprint, with jockeys and weights in post position order: Areyoutalkintome, Victor Espinoza, 122; Mach Ride, Coa, 121; Souvenir Evening, Court, 121; Debonair Joe, no rider, 122; Red Warrior, Flores, 122; Nightmare Affair, Castro, 122; Bordonaro, Migliore, 122; Proud Tower Too, Cohen, 122, and Smokey Stover, Gryder, 121.

The connections of Take D’Tour had been considering taking a crack at open company in the Classic following the 6-year-old mare’s dazzling 14-length victory in Calder’s Grade III Stage Door Betty Handicap on Dec. 30, but have settled on the safer option in the Distaff.

It will mark the first West Coast appearance for the Florida-bred daughter of Tour d’Or, whose 9-6-0 career record in 21 starts has earned $652,740 for owner Alice Muller. With Eibar Coa in the saddle at 122 pounds for trainer David Fawkes, Take D’Tour figures to be a heavy favorite against her own sex in the mile-and-one-sixteenth Distaff.

The complete field for the Distaff, with jockeys and weights in post position order: Dancing General, Solis, 122; Getback Time, Nakatani, 120; Friel’s for Real, Gryder, 122; Take D’Tour, Coa, 122; Joint Effort, Castro, 120; Purrfectly Fitting, Flores, 120; Saffronista, Martin Garcia, 120; No Sleep, Tyler Baze, 122; Bit of Folly, Court, 122; Preciousness, Bisono, 120, Beneficial Bartok, Cohen, 122, and Somethinaboutlaura, Espinoza, 122. Also eligible: Yearly Attitude, Migliore, 122.

The Oaks, which will kick off the Santa Anita action as the second race, appears to be a wide open event with 13 entered. Mistical Plan was victorious in Oak Tree’s Cover Gal Stakes in October and most recently ran third in the Grade III Santa Ysabel for trainer O’Neill.

Toll Road was a dazzling seven-length maiden winner earlier this month for Janis Whitham and trainer Ron McAnally, who raced the Hall of Fame mare Bayakoa during the 1980s. Double Major was fourth when favored in the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes last month when favored following an impressive maiden victory.

The complete field for the Oaks, with jockeys in post position order (each starter carries 120 pounds): Hello Bolly, Chavez; Sekira, Solis; Prenuptial, Cohen; Mistical Plan, Flores; High Cholesterol, Migliore; Tiz Elemental, Espinoza; A. V. Flynn, Kyle Kaenel; Tizthen, Blanc; Super Freaky, Court; Double Major, Nakatani; Go Ray Ray, Gryder; Toll Road, Tyler Baze, and Short Sentence, Omar Figueroa.

After the Oaks is run as the second race, Sunshine Millions races in successive order at Santa Anta will be the Distaff, Sprint and Turf. They will be interspersed among simulcasts of the Millions races from Gulfstream Park in Florida.