Lava Man returns to form in the Charles Whittingham at Hollywood Park (qtfeather2000)

Looking beyond the triple crown for a moment, I was happy to see Lava Man’s performance in the Whittingham… he’s back!

I think the turf suits him and he responded well to his new jock, Tyler Baze as they set an aggressive pace and held on gamely as Artiste Royal and Monzante came on strong to win and place. Now THAT was a race!

Sorry about the quality, this was the only clip on YouTube. You can also watch it here at NTRA. I really like both Artiste Royal and Monzante and it looked to me like Monzante would have liked even more distance than the 1 1/4 mile Whittingham. Well done to all!

News has also surfaced that our old friend and member of the “almost but not quite Triple Crown club”, War Emblem is actually covering mares again!

You may remember that he had basically been refusing to cover mares for several years which fueled (silly) speculation that he might be gay or at least in my estimation bored.

When it became apparent that he has some talent as a sire there was a renewed interest in renewing his interest. Apparently at least part of the problem was that he’s just picky. I’m picky too, but then again it doesn’t impact how I perform my job!

His therapy program, which commenced in early spring, consists of a combination of changes in housing and management to naturally build maturity and breeding confidence, changes in breeding-shed handling techniques to maximize response, and carefully managed hormone supplementation as needed to boost libido to reduce his mare choosiness while his confidence builds.

Hmmmm, Spanish fly perhaps? Dr. Sue McDonnell, a specialist in stallion behavior and breeding management at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center summed it up perfectly…

I sure don’t know how horses think about these matters, but observations of his behavior indicate that War Emblem appears to be quite enthused about his new direction.

Well then, welcome back to both Lava Man and War Emblem!