Brody’s Cause displays devastating late kick in Breeders’ Futurity
October 3rd, 2015
Trained by Dale Romans and ridden by Corey Lanerie, the Giant’s Causeway colt stamped himself as a very promising youngster as well as a fast finisher. After dropping his debut on turf, Brody’s Cause closed from the clouds to break his maiden by 1 ¼ lengths in a one-mile maiden special weight on Churchill Downs’ main track September 11.
He dropped to the back of the pack in the 11-horse Breeders’ Futurity, biding his time as Sheikh of Sheikhs showed the way on a short lead through opening splits of :23.41, :47.33 and 1:11.66. Brody’s Cause was still ninth with a little more than a quarter-mile remaining.
He advanced quickly past rivals on the far turn and carried his momentum into the short stretch of the 1 1/16-mile race. Exaggerator, the 2-1 favorite following a victory in the Saratoga Special (G2), rallied from just off the pace to take a one-length lead with only a sixteenth of a mile remaining, but Brody’s Cause blew by in deep stretch to win going away by a length.
The winner stopped the teletimer in 1:43.27 over the “muddy” track.
“He’s just a damn good horse,” Romans said. “You can’t train speed into them. He’s fast.
“I don’t know if there is a better 2-year-old in the country right now.”
“He was awesome,” Lanerie added. “Dale told me in the paddock every time he does something, second time he does it, he’s always better.
“He took a lot of dirt. Handled it great, handled it like he’d done it a bunch of times. He was so professional…I think the sky is the limit for him. Just the way he does things, he does it so easy.”
Brody’s Cause established himself as a dangerous closer for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and runner-up Exaggerator remains a top contender as well.
“I ended up on the fence, where I truly didn’t want to be, but the race set up like that,” Exaggerator’s jockey Kent Desormeaux said. “Today was his (Brody’s Cause) day but the whole team’s extremely happy and we look forward to the Breeders’ Cup.”
Off as the 11-1 seventh choice, Brody’s Cause figures to be a much shorter price next time.
Rated R Superstar wound up nearly two lengths back of Exaggerator in third and Sticksstatelydude, Uncle Vinny, Sheikh of Sheikhs, Threefiveindia, Uncle Jerry, Gametown, Pinnacle Peak and Wild Man came next under the wire.
Owned by Albaugh Family Stable, Brody’s Cause was bred in Kentucky by Gabriel Duignan, William Arvin Jr. & Petaluma Bloodstock. The bay colt was purchased for $350,000 at last year’s Keeneland September Sale and has now earned $323,138 from three starts.
Brody’s Cause photo courtesy of Keeneland/Coady Photography
ADVERTISEMENT
