At this point, it's pretty clear that Lava Man is done. He was never as good on turf as dirt and you could probably excuse the bad Poly race and medicore race on Cushion, but he was dreadful today. He's not that bad on turf.

They will probably take him to the BC Mile, but IMO if he has any hope at all for next year they would be better off stopping on him right now and getting him out of CA ASAP. I realize that's been the only place he has run well, but there's nothing left for him there with all the track changes. If they take him somewhere else from the start (where he can get Lasix and Bute) and train him there right from the start, he might not mind another track. He would at least have some shot of winning some decent 2nd string stakes on real dirt. Other than that they should retire him. IMHO, he's very underappreciated by east cost handicappers. He was darn good at his best, accomplished some things that no other horse could, and performed at a high level for a very long time during some tough campaigns. NO reason to embarass him.