Lava Man

Lava Man
Lava Man in 2006 Pacific Classic
Sire	Slew City Slew
Grandsire	Seattle Slew
Dam	L'il Ms. Leonard
Damsire	Nostalgia's Star
Sex	Gelding
Foaled	20 March 2001
Country	USA
Colour	Dark Bay
Breeder	Lonnie Arterburn, Eve Kuhlmann, Kim Kuhlmann
Owner	Arterburn and Kuhlmann STD Racing Stable/Jason Wood
Trainer	Lonnie Arterburn Doug O'Neill
Record	47:17-8-5
Earnings	$5,268,706
Major wins
Californian Stakes (2005) Hollywood Gold Cup (2005, 2006, 2007) Sunshine Millions Classic (2006) Santa Anita Handicap (2006, 2007) Khaled Stakes (2006) Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap (2006) Pacific Classic Stakes (2006) Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap (2006) Sunshine Millions Turf (2007)
Honours
California Bred Champion Older Horse (2005, 2006) California Horse of the Year (2005, 2006) California Bred Champion Turf Horse (2006) California Bred Champion Older Horse (2007) National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame (2015)

Lava Man (foaled on March 20, 2001 in California) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was once claimed for $50,000 but wound up being inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2015. In a forty-seven race career, he won seventeen times with his major victories including three Hollywood Gold Cups, two Santa Anita Handicaps and the Pacific Classic Stakes.

Lava Man is dark bay thoroughbred gelding with a white blaze on his forehead. His dam L'il Ms. Leonard was claimed by Lonnie Arterburn for $16,000 and then sent to Kentucky to be bred to Slew City Slew, a son of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. Kim and Eve Kuhlman acquired a half interest in L'il Ms. Leonard and kept her at their farm in Kentucky before shipping her back to California. Lava Man was foaled on March 20, 2001 at Poplar Meadows Ranch near Sanger, California. He originally ran as a homebred for Arturburn and the Kuhlmans, and was trained by Arterburn.

Eve Kuhlmann, who competes in triathlons, named the horse Lava Man for a triathlon on the Big Island in Hawaii.

Lava Man is known for both his intelligent and friendly personality and his "tenacity, courage and adaptability" on the track. A jockey who regularly rode Lava Man, Corey Nakatani, has said of him, "This horse has gears, so many gears. What a horse. He's just about unbelievable."

Lava Man first raced as a 2-year-old in a $12,500 maiden claiming race at the San Joaquin County Fair in June 2003, finishing fourth and earning a paltry Beyer Speed Figure of 27. The Fair Circuit is the lowest level of thoroughbred competition in California thoroughbred racing. Arterburn said he was a big, long-striding horse that never got tired. "But he was so laid back he could be a pony. He didn't show anything in the mornings. I took him out to to get him a race, make him eligible for starter allowances and not get him claimed away." In the words of Daily Racing Form columnist Dick Jerardi, "Lava Man did not start his career on the other side of the tracks. He started his career in a place [Stockton] where there are no tracks."