Derby News

BERKELEY, Calif. (March 11, 2006) - Cause to Believe gave his connections further reason to late nominate to the Triple Crown and point for the Kentucky Derby, dominating four overmatched rivals Saturday afternoon in the $100,000 California Derby at Golden Gate Fields.

Ridden by Regular rider Russell Baze, Cause to Believe, the 1-2 favorite, was content to settle at the rear as Sinister Minister, the 9-5 second choice that shipped in from Southern California for trainer Bob Baffert, shot to the front and took the field around the oval through a solid half-mile in 45.26 under tight restraint from rider Martin Garcia. As they rounded the far turn, Sinister Minister was able to pull away from a pair of longshot stalkers, as Cause to Believe began to uncork his rally up the inside.

By the time the field straightened for home, Cause to Believe and Baze had made up an immense amount of ground on the loose front-runner and moved to the outside to challenge with the rest of the others far behind. Sinister Minister lost significant momentum when he suddenly swerved to the inside and slammed the rail twice in midstretch, and by the time he recovered, Cause to Believe had blown by him with a full head of steam. The gray son of Maria's Mon crossed the wire in front by a widening four lengths over Sinister Minister, stopping the clock in 1:41.07 for the mile and-a-sixteenth over fast going.

"There's more horse than he showed today," said Baze of Cause to Believe in the winner's circle. "(Sinister Minister) hitting the fence made my job easier, but we were going to get him anyway. I figured they were going pretty quick because my horse was quite away back there."

Pacesetter Sinister Minister was clear in second, 14 lengths ahead of The Five J's in a field that was scratched down to five after the defections of top contenders Sky Diving and Racketeer.

Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Cause to Believe notched his sixth career win from nine starts for owners Peter Abruzzo and Peter Redekop, boosting his career earnings to $340,565, and he is expected to be a late nominee to the Triple Crown and point for the $500,000 Gr. II Illinois Derby at Hawthorne on April 8th for his final major prep race before lining up in the Kentucky Derby on May 6th.

"This horse keeps showing me more and more, and I still think he's capable of doing better," said a satisfied Hollendorfer. "We have a lot of different plans. The main thing is to keep this horse sound. If things go the way I hope they do, the Illinois Derby would be his next race. The timing is perfect with this horse if we're going to run in the (Kentucky) Derby."

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