‘Revenge’ could be sweet

NEW YORK – The moment his sleek bay colt came roaring down the stretch and hit the wire for an 81/2-length victory in the Gotham Stakes 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 Los Angeles bands, including one calling itself Bag of Guilt, the 52-year-old Lanzman may just have the favorite for the Kentucky Derby in four weeks.

I Want Revenge is the odds-on favorite in the Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial at the Big A today, and a win would send the son of Stephen Got Even (get the connection?) 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 Pioneer of 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 – the Derby also is run on dirt.

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 5-furlong workout in a speedy 59.80 seconds Sunday 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 percent share of I Want Revenge to IEAH Stables of Big Brown fame, then bought a 25 percent share of IEAH’s 3-year-old filly sensation Stardom Bound, the likely favorite for the Kentucky Oaks 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.”

Eight years ago, Lanzman thought racing couldn’t get any better when he won the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Sprint 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.”