Horse Racing

A little adversity made a fighter out of Lava Man in Saturday's $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup.

In the most hard-fought win of his career, Lava Man overcame a poor start and a determined rival in 24-1 outsider Ace Blue to win the Grade 1 Gold Cup for the second consecutive year.

Lava Man joined Native Diver as the only horse to win consecutive runnings of Hollywood Park's showcase race. Native Diver won the Gold Cup from 1965-67.

Unlike last year, when Lava Man won the Gold Cup by a record 8 3-4 lengths, he nearly lost this year's running at the finish.

Lava Man ($3.20) ran 1 1-4 miles in 2:01.16, winning by the slimmest of noses against Ace Blue.

"I thought we got beat," trainer Doug O'Neill said.

The win further emphasized Lava Man's status as a leading handicap horse in the nation. He is unbeaten in five starts this year, a campaign all the more remarkable considering he was claimed for $50,000 in the summer of 2004 by owners STD Racing Stable and Jason Wood.

Along with a large group of friends, they welcomed Lava Man into the winner's circle with a rousing reception that would have seemed improbable when the gates opened.

Breaking from the rail, Lava Man stumbled at the start, yielding the early lead to Magnum, the winner of the Lone Star Park Handicap in May. Nakatani kept Lava Man in third for the first six furlongs, following Magnum and Ace Blue through fractions of 23.87 and 48.65 seconds. Ace Blue, ridden by Victor Espinoza, led briefly on the backstretch, racing outside of Magnum.

Lava Man trailed by 2 1-2 lengths for much of the run down the backstretch. Nakatani urged him closer to Magnum with three furlongs remaining, quickly going past Ace Blue who faded to third. Lava Man and Magnum ran as a team on the turn, with Magnum leading by a head well off the rail with a quarter-mile remaining.

When the field settled into the stretch, Lava Man had Magnum to his inside and Ace Blue closing steadily on the outside. Lava Man put away Magnum with a furlong remaining and was fully extended to hold off a resilient Ace Blue, whose rally just fell short.

Lava Man has won 12 of 32 starts and $2,904,706. Prior to Saturday, his closest finish this year was a three-quarter length win over Magnum in the Santa Anita Handicap in March.

"We would have liked for it to be easier," O'Neill said of the Gold Cup. "For him to stumble, find position and get floated out in the stretch, I think he really proved what a warrior he is."

Super Frolic, fourth for much of the race, closed well to finish third, losing by three-quarters of a length. Magnum finished fourth, followed by Seek Gold, the winner of the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs last month.

The narrow loss by Ace Blue stunned trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.

"I'm never going to be the sort of guy that accepts defeat," Hollendorfer said. "We're disappointed. Victor rode him well and the horse ran well. We were beaten by a horse that is close to being a legend."

* Singalong won her stakes debut in the restricted $70,451 Redondo Beach Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf. Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Singalong ($) rallied on the rail in the stretch to win by three-quarters of a length over Dream's, finishing in 1:34.57. Midwife finished third in the field of nine.

Singalong, who races for Harlequin Stables and trainer Paddy Gallagher, has won 4 of 12 starts and $165,276.

49 great things about horse racing, in no special order.

1. Lawyers usually lose at the windows.
2. Spouses don't like the races.
3. The Racing Form out-stats baseball almanacs.
4. Surprisingly few people keel over dead at the track.
5. Losers pay the winners.
6. There has not been a Triple Crown winner in 28 years.
7. The track is one of the last havens for sober colorful characters.
8. Slot suckers pay some of the rent.
9. Bets you're shut out on seldom win.
10. There's lots of elbow room at the races.
11. A race is a potent diversion.
12. Good women jockeys pay dividends.
13. Expert handicappers on TV couldn't hit their backsides with a jockey's whip.
14. At Santa Anita, the aging movie stars are usually looking good.
15. Birds of all feathers gather at the rail to try to change their luck.
16. At the small tracks, everybody knows the crooks.
17. On the quarter horse circuit, there is a 64-year old jockey named Roy Brooks who rides regularly.
18. Some long shots make no sense to anybody besides you, and win.
19. No kids.
20. No dogs.
21. Somebody you know is always at the simulcast joint.
22. The tote board is today about as it was when it was first installed at an American track -- Arlington Park in 1933 -- and it continues to provide low-tech surprises, like how much a payoff turns out to be.
23. Unlucky people who jinx horses are real.
24. Race track pizza is like a ballpark hot dog -- it's great, no matter the under-cooked ingredients.
25. Pick 3's, 4's and 6's pay more than you would expect.
26. A teller at an eastern track said that refusing to tip would freeze a win streak.
27. Horse race movies are always uplifting.
28. British announcers have a way of elevating the moment so that you might think: Hey, this ain't that bad a way to spend a Wednesday night by yourself.
29. Big-time jockey's wives are usually something statuesque.
30. Ex-jockeys as TV commentators pick winners about as well as your Aunt Martha and your Uncle Blockhead.
31. Tip sheets frequently miss them all.
32. The most eerily moving winner's circle photo I ever saw included the horse, the jockey, the trainer, and not another person.
33. Sometimes guys who sort through the garbage get lucky and find live Trifecta tickets worth thousands.
34. Calls of quarter horse races sound something like this: They're off, here they come, you lose.
35. The sound of a gate opening is electric.
36. Sometimes you wind up with a ticket with the wrong numbers on it, and it wins.
37. There are no advertising stickers on a horse's rump.
38. There are no wins under caution flags.
39. Even $2,500 claimers can seem regal for an instant in post parades.
40. In the sticks, Quinellas sometimes pay more than Exactas.
41. Members of opposite teams, the jockeys, share a locker room.
42. Speed numbers can lie, go figure.
43. Most tracks have a bias.
44. Drunks lose.
45. Old smokers hang in there.
46. If a horse shakes its head side to side repeatedly, you can have it.
47. Lost jockey is a trouble line.
48. There's mud.
49. Unlike golfers, tennis, soccer, basketball and baseball players, American horses have guts and compete well on a global basis.

Bushfire staked her claim to leadership of the 3-year-old filly division Saturday with a solid victory in the Grade 1, $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park.

Content to sit off a rushed-to-the-lead Teammate after an opening quarter-mile, Bushfire took control of the race at the five-sixteenths pole, and galloped home to an easier-than-it-looked three-quarter-length victory over Pine Island. It was a half-length back to Ready to Please in third.

Lemons Forever, the Kentucky Oaks winner and 5-2 Mother Goose favorite, finished fourth.

Bushfire added the Mother Goose to a resume that includes Grade 1 victories in the Acorn and Ashland as well as a win in the Florida Oaks.

"This will definitely put her at the head of the division," trainer Eddie Kenneally said. "She's beat everybody.''

It wasn't until Wednesday that Kenneally committed to running Bushfire in the Mother Goose. He was fearful of a regression following a hard-fought victory in the Grade 1 Acorn here three weeks ago. But his decision to run proved fruitful.

Bushfire, under Edgar Prado, grabbed the early lead while running an opening quarter in 23.86 seconds. After veering in from the rail at the start, Teammate was sent to the lead by Cornelio Velasquez after 3 1/2 furlongs and Prado was content to let Bushfire sit off that rival.

Teammate began to retreat after running six furlongs in 1:11.11 and Bushfire took control of the race at that point. After turning back a stubborn Ready to Please in midstretch, Bushfire had more than enough to hold off a late-running Pine Island at the wire. Bushfire ($8.60), a daughter of Louis Quatorze owned by Ronald and Ricki Rashinski, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.86.

Kenneally called it Bushfire's best race because of the way she relaxed. Prado, who had ridden her twice before, concurred.

"She broke sharp, but she wasn't rank,'' Prado said. "She was relaxed, and even when another horse came to us, she was still relaxed. She was waiting for me to tell her what to do.''

Though Bushfire has won the first two legs of New York's triple crown for 3-year-old fillies, Kenneally said he probably won't run her back in the final leg, the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, here on July 22. Kenneally said he would look at the Alabama at Saratoga on Aug. 19 or the Gazelle on Sept. 9 at Belmont for Bushfire's next race.