Lava Man back to defend Santa Anita Handicap

Horseracing Betting Lines

02/28/2007 - Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former claimer Lava Man is back to defend his title in Saturday's $1 million Santa Anita Handicap. Lava Man will take on eight rivals in the 1 1/4 mile race.

Bred in California, Lava Man has proven unbeatable in the Golden State. All of his seven victories in 2006 came in his home state and he began this year with a win in the Sunshine Millions Turf at Santa Anita.

Lava Man is owned by STD Racing and Jason Wood, and trained by Doug O'Neill. The six-year-old gelding will have his regular jockey Corey Nakatani in the saddle and start from post 7. Lava Man has been assigned high weight of 124 pounds.

"I think it's fair," ONeill said about the weight assignment. "He's definitely the deserving high weight. Now he needs to run like it."

Last year he earned $2.77 million and has career winnings of more than $4 million. Lava Man has won 15 of 36 lifetime starts.

McCann's Mojave, the winner of this year's Sunshine Millions Classic, faces Lava Man for the first time since last year's Sunshine Millions. The seven- year-old will break from the far outside post with Frank Alvarado riding.

Santa Anita publicity director Mike Willman owns McCann's Mojave with Steve Specht training. The horse has a career mark of 10 wins in 24 starts for better than $1.1 million.

"You can't take anything away from Lava Man," commented Specht about the favorite. "Hes a good horse, but hes no special horse, in my opinion. He's not a horse like Secretariat or Spectacular Bid, horses that were so monstrous. Hes not in that league. He's beaten some of the same horses that we've beaten."

The first two finishers from the Strub Stakes are entered in the Big Cap.

Arson Squad with jockey Garrett Gomez will start between Lava Man and McCann's Mojave. Spring At Last will break from post 5 with David Flores in the saddle.

Completing the field for the Big Cap in post position order are Awesome Gem, El Roblar, Boboman, Ball Four and Molengao,

Former Santa Anita Derby winner Brother Derek will miss the Santa Anita Handicap due to a chip in his left ankle. Brother Derek was third in the Strub Stakes.

"It's a recurring problem that probably will require four months (off)," said trainer Dan Hendricks. "It's very minor, but the best thing for the horse is to go at it now, let him recuperate and come back strong as ever."

The Santa Anita Handicap is scheduled as race 10 with a post-time of 7:30 p.m. (et).

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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