"I'm not bitching because I lost."

Murray Johnson goes on one the funnier diatribes in recent memory, suggesting that a souped up track and milkshakes put Lava Man over the top in Sunday's Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

Johnson charges that Del Mar graded and hardened the track under the cover of darkness, to the benefit of Lava Man.

"(Lava Man) is a good horse, but when you get things catered toward you . . . I'm not bitching because I lost. I'm just telling you what I saw," Johnson said.

Murray also pointed to Lava Man's record outside California and wonders aloud about whether Doug O'Neill's was giving milkshakes before the race.

"I'd love to know his (Lava Man's) bicarb level," Johnson said. "I'm sure it's in the 30s.

Johnson recanted a day later, saying that he just kidding. He says his emotions were running high because of a heart attack suffered by his father two days before the race.

"With the emotions of the time, I was looking to blame things and people that weren't to blame," Johnson said Monday in statements released by the Del Mar publicity department. "I want people to know that's not what we think and feel. It was totally wrong to make those comments."

And, yesterday, the California Horse Racing Board issued an unusual advisory that leapt to the defense of O'Neill and Lava Man, stating that all eight Pacific Classic starters fell below legal limits for carbon dioxide.

"Lava Man left no doubt he is a true champion when he won the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sunday and became the first horse ever to win the Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup, and Pacific Classic in the same year," CHRB chairman Richard B. Shapiro. "Doug O'Neill has done a marvelous job training this horse, and no one should take anything away from these achievements.