good article
'Revenge Changed Everything for Lanzman
By
The Associated Press
Updated: Monday, April 6, 2009 5:44 PM
Posted: Friday, April 3, 2009 7:00 PM
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By RICHARD ROSENBLATT
AP Sports Writer
The moment his sleek bay colt came roaring down the stretch and hit the wire for an 8 1/2-length victory in the Gotham Stakes (gr. III) at Aqueduct Racetrack last month, David Lanzman knew his life was about to change.
In this case, it’s all good.
A former struggling rock singer for several LA bands, including one calling itself Bag of Guilt, the 52-year-old Lanzman may just have the favorite for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) in four weeks.
I Want Revenge is the odds-on favorite in the $750,000 Wood Memorial (gr. I) at the Big A on Saturday, and a win would send the son of
Stephen Got Even to Churchill Downs as a most formidable presence.
“It’s all really kind of unbelievable,” said Lanzman, based in Beverly Hills and the owner of a mortgage company as well as about 20 Thoroughbreds.
I Want Revenge was bred by Lanzman, too. The colt showed promise with a second-place and then third-place finish behind Derby-bound
Pioneerof the Nile in stakes races on synthetic surfaces in California, But at the suggestion of trainer Jeff Mullins and jockey Joe Talamo, Lanzman sent his horse East to run on a dirt track for the first time.
Bingo! I Want Revenge left the competition in the dust, was sent home to California for a few weeks and is back in New York to show that his last race was no fluke.
“I went out the other morning to watch his work and he was hardly breathing — and it was an open gallop,” Lanzman said of I Want Revenge’s five-furlong workout in a speedy 59.80 seconds March 29 at Hollywood Park. “It’s almost scary that we think he’s better now than he was going into the Gotham.”
Lanzman isn’t alone.
On Monday, Lanzman accepted an offer he couldn’t refuse: He sold a 50% share of I Want Revenge to IEAH Stables of Big Brown fame, then bought a 25% share of IEAH’s 3-year-old filly sensation
Stardom Bound, the likely favorite for the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) the day before the Derby.
“This was a life-changing scene for us,” he said, referring to his wife, Desirae, and their teenage son, Blair. “I mean, I’m not pleading poverty but at the same time we are in a situation where this kind of changes our lives so I had to get that done. And at the same time, I couldn’t give up the dream of a lifetime either, and this deal accomplished both.”
Lanzman made one concession: I Want Revenge will now wear the red, white and blue silks of IEAH instead of Lanzman’s teal, gold lightning bolt and gold silks.
“My wife and I discussed it, and with the exception of Secretariat and Cigar I can’t remember what anybody’s silks look like,” he said.
Eight years ago, Lanzman thought racing couldn’t get any better when he won the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) with Squirtle Squirt, a horse he bought for $25,000 and named after his favorite Pokemon character. But his racing friends kept telling him winning a Breeders’ Cup was nothing compared to the Kentucky Derby.
He didn’t believe them.
“It was to the point where I actually took offense by it,” he said. “It was like, ‘Hey, come on you guys. This is a championship.’ And I would get in discussions where I would argue the point.
“I was wrong back then. This is unbelievable.”
Lanzman, who was born in Erie, Pa., but grew up in Los Angeles, says he started sneaking into Hollywood Park to bet on races when he was 13. He got the money from scalping tickets at the nearby Forum. He said he bought his first horse in 1991.
None, though, have created the excitement generated by I Want Revenge. The colt still has a way to go to catch Squirtle Squirt in earnings—$1.1 million for Squirtle Squirt; $366,000 for I Want Revenge—but who’s counting now that Lanzman has his lucrative deal with IEAH?
After the Gotham, I Want Revenge was supposed to stay in New York with trainer Tony Dutrow overseeing his care. But Lanzman, as well as Mullins, had second thoughts.
“If he’d have won by a length or two I think he probably would have stayed,” said Lanzman. “When he ran the way he did, I don’t think Jeff wanted him out of his sight.”
I Want Revenge will be in full view in the 1 1/8-mile Wood, a final prep before the Derby. With Talamo aboard, I Want Revenge takes on seven rivals, including Gotham runner-up
Imperial Council, the 2-1 second choice.
