Derby News

The stature of the Illinois Derby (GII) has grown in recent years, particularly with the 2002 Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem coming out of Hawthorne's signature 3-year-old race. The 2006 race has drawn a field of ten that is as solid as any other Derby prep to date.

The 5-2 morning line favorite for the nine furlong event is the Jerry Hollendorfer trained Cause to Believe. The son of Maria's Mon has never been worse than second in nine starts, including wins in the El Camino Real (GIII) and California Derby in his last two outings. Despite his record, he was not nominated to the Triple Crown until the late deadline of March 25, costing his owners Peter Redekop and Peter Abruzzo $6,000 instead of the early $600 fee. In retrospect, it was a small price to pay for a colt that cost $30,000 at auction in March 2005 and has gone on to earn $335,565 to this point.

Cause to Believe drew post 7, which Hollendorfer saw no problems with. "The post should be fine. My horse is pretty versatile, so you know, I can adjust, especially from that post. That’s a good post for me."

The trainer was referring to his horse's closing/stalking style that is not so post position critical. Cause to Believe's regular rider, Russell Baze, accompanies the horse from California

Second choice Sweetnorthernsaint has drawn much less favorably; the speedy Maryland invader will break from the far outside. However, it is a fairly long run into the first turn, so jockey Kent Desormeaux will have a chance to secure good early position. Sweetnorthernsaint comes into the Illinois Derby off a game 3/4 length loss to Like Now and Keyed Entry in Aqueduct's Gotham (GIII), his first graded stakes race.,p> Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel shipped the promising Racketeer in for the race as well. The Awesome Again colt was most recently fourth in the San Felipe (GII), and needs a good showing to move up the Derby graded earnings list.

From Florida comes My Golden Song, winless in 2006, but was third to Barbaro in the Holy Bull (GIII) February 4. My Golden Song already has two starts at the 1 1/8 distance, so stamina will not be the issue.

Mister Triester, a late Triple Crown nominee like Cause to Believe, is another California shipper. From the same connections that won this race with and started Greeley's Galaxy in last year's Kentucky Derby, Mister Triester has just one win from seven starts.

Other shippers include Malameeze, a late-running colt that was third in the Lane's End at Turfway; Itsallboutthechase, beaten just a nose in Gulfstream's Aventura, but subsequently was unplaced in the Holy Bull and Fountain of Youth (GII).

The top locally-based horse is Lewis Michael, trained by Wayne Catalano. Lewis Michael has raced over five different tracks in six starts. With all his races, except his debut, coming on the turf, his dirt form is still a question mark. However, he has been training over the dirt extremely well of late, with three bullet moves in the last month.

Rounding out the field are Devilofarush, trained by Mike Maker, who's With a City recently upset the Lane's End field at 47-1; and Creative Force, three for three against state-breds at Hawthorne last year.

The field, in post position order, with jockeys:

1. Malameeze (John McKee)
2. Creative Force (Eddie Perez)
3. Itsallboutthechase (Chris Emigh)
4. Lewis Michael (Frank Alvarado)
5. Devilofarush (E. T. Baird)
6. Mister Triester (Brice Blanc)
7. Cause to Believe (Russell Baze)
8. Racketeer (Pat Valenzuela)
9. My Golden Song (Chris Decarlo)
10. Sweetnorthernsaint (Kent Desormeaux)

The Illinois Derby will be the seventh race on the card, with a post time of 5:12 Eastern time.

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