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Proudinsky (Ger) scored a repeat victory in the $150,000 San Gabriel Handicap (G2) on Sunday at Santa Anita Park, overhauling seven-time Grade 1 winner Lava Man in the stretch of that foe’s much-anticipated return from a 17-month layoff.

Under Rafael Bejarano, Proudinsky stalked front-running Lava Man and took over from the fading pacesetter in the stretch. The six-year-old Silvano (Ger) horse then held off a late bid from 7-to-5 favorite Loup Breton (Ire) to win by a neck.

“At the top of the stretch, I asked him and he gave me a good turn of foot,” Bejarano said. “I could see [Loup Breton] was really running on the rail, but my horse was running faster and they couldn’t catch him.”

Trained by Humberto Ascanio for owner Johanna Louise Glen-Teven, Proudinsky covered 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:46.91.

Proudinsky defeated Ferneley (Ire) by three-quarters of a length in last year’s edition of the San Gabriel for previous trainer Bobby Frankel, who died on November 16 after a battle with cancer. With Sunday’s win, Proudinsky improved to seven victories, four seconds, and two thirds from 22 starts and boosted his earnings to $1,225,953. A five-time graded stakes winner, Proudinsky is out of the Dashing Blade mare Proudeyes (Ger).

“Good horses do the job. I learned from the Bobby Frankel school,” Ascanio said. “I’m not Bobby Frankel, but I just do his thing.”

Loup Breton was sent off as the favorite in the seven-horse field after winning an allowance race by 1 3/4 lengths on November 19 at Hollywood Park in his U.S. debut. Garrett Gomez reserved Loup Breton in last early and he closed willingly from the inside but could not collar the victor. Loup Breton was 1 1/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Acclamation.

Lava Man, an eight-year-old Slew City Slew gelding, won three straight editions of the Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (G1) in 2005, ’06, and ’07. He was retired after finishing sixth in the Eddie Read Handicap (G1) in July 2008 and was scheduled to be pensioned at Old Friends, a Thoroughbred retirement facility in Georgetown, Kentucky. The retirement plan was scrapped after Lava Man underwent a successful series of stem-cell procedures to regenerate cartilage in his surgically repaired ankles.

Lava Man looked good early in his return, leading the way through an opening quarter in :24.06, a half-mile in :48.14, and six furlongs in 1:11.81, but he faded in the stretch and finished last. Trainer Doug O’Neill said Lava Man came out of the race with a cut, and jockey Tyler Baze said he thought Lava Man just got tired after 17 months away from competition.

“He had a gash on his hind right tibia when he came back, but I don’t think that caused anything. It looks like he hit the side of the gate leaving there,” O’Neill said. “He just got tired. That’s what Tyler [Baze] commented on. I thought I had him more fit than that, but it’s hard to simulate a mile and an eighth turf race in the mornings.”

Courtesy: www.thoroughbredtimes.com