- Just edging A.P. Xcellent by a nose, Lava Man and jockey Corey Nakatani won a record-tying third consecutive Hollywood Gold Cup on Saturday. In a duel that went down to the wire, the six-year-old horse tied the mark of Native Diver, who won the race from 1965-67 and is buried at Hollywood Park - BANAMINE
- Big Booster
- A.P. Excellent on the rail.
Who's the Man?
Lava Man becomes the 2nd horse in history to win the Hollywood Gold Cup three consecutive years, joining the legendary Native Diver.
Comments and faves
Lava Man (60 months ago | reply)
the super horse is back on form,but damm did he have to work for it.it would be great to see him succeed at the breeders cup later on.
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BANAMINE (60 months ago | reply)
Updated: 6:43 p.m. PT June 30, 2007
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Lava Man edged A.P. Xcellent by a nose to win a record-tying third consecutive $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on Saturday in a thrilling duel to the wire.
Lava Man tied the mark of three-time winner Native Diver, who is buried at Hollywood Park where the horse nicknamed “The Black Bullet” won the Gold Cup from 1965-67.
“This meant a lot,” co-owner Steve Kenly said. “To tie a record like that is something.Last year, Lava Man also won by a nose. Two years ago, he won by a record 8¾ lengths.
Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Lava Man covered 1¼ miles in 2:03.21, the slowest winning time since Seabiscuit (2:03 4/5) took the inaugural race in 1938. He paid $4.80, $3 and $2.10 as the 7-5 wagering favorite.
A.P. Xcellent returned $7.40 and $4.80, while Big Booster earned $8.40 to show.
Already the richest claiming horse in history, Lava Man earned $450,000 to push his career total to $5,189,706. The 6-year-old gelding was claimed for $50,000 by trainer Doug O’Neill in August 2004 at Del Mar.
Since then, Lava Man has dominated Southern California’s three major races for older horses — winning the Gold Cup three times, the Santa Anita Handicap twice and the Pacific Classic once.
“He’s done so much and every time he does it, you’re like, ’Wow, that’s crazy,’ and then he does something more,” co-owner Jason Wood said. “So here we sit, three-peat of the Gold Cup.”
alydar_1978 (60 months ago | reply)
The breeders cup is at Oak Tree in 2008!! I dont know if they'll take him out of CA ever again, or atleast not in the near future. We'll have to see. He's got such a great heart. He's super smart also. Very professional all around. He was also carrying 124, as opposed to A.P.'s 115.
Rock and Racehorses added this photo to their favorites. (60 months ago)
Rock and Racehorses (60 months ago | reply)
I absolutely love that you can see the whites of the eyes of both horses. Lava Man is such a cool horse, Perfect capture and perfect angle- a lot of the other photos of this race don't show LM edging out APX this way. So cool that you were there for a great moment in CA racing history.
Horselover43 (47 months ago | reply)
Who's the Man? Lava man is! Great job it's wonderful