A Horse with a Cause

Since at least one person has expressed continued interest in this blog (although they're probably the only one), I'll soldier on.

Creative Cause (by Giant's Causeway, out of Dream of Summer by Siberian Summer)

Today Creative Cause shall attempt to prove that he is the "best of the west", taking on a challenging field in the Santa Anita Derby. If he wins, it might be enough (in the minds of many horseplayers) to skyrocket him to the coveted favorite position amongst Derby hopefuls. Although many still believe that Union Rags (who I profiled before, and who recently finished a disappointing third in the Florida Derby) is the cream of the crop, no one can argue that Creative Cause is not far behind.

After starting off to an impressive 2-year old season, Creative Cause came up a creditable (but somewhat distant) third to Union Rags and Hansen in the Breeder's Cup juvenile. He's managed to duck those two monsters since then, but otherwise has not failed to impress in his stakes efforts. In his first start of the season he again finished third in the San Vicente stakes. This somewhat surprising loss was quickly followed up by a fairly comfortable win in the San Felipe. I say fairly comfortable, because he did not blow the competition away, and had the well regarded Bodemiester breathing down his neck through the stretch. How he performs today will have much to say for him (and possibly his competition) in the upcoming Derby.

Creative Cause is by Giant's Causeway, one son of Storm Cat that proved he was a route horse through and through. After being a European horse of the year, he finished a close second to Tiznow in that horse's first of two consecutive Breeder's Cup Classic wins. Creative Cause's female family is also replete with horses that could go the one and a quarter mile Derby distance. As such, no one is questioning his ability to run all day, if necessary.

One thing that is odd, is his connections' decision to run him today for the first time without blinkers. Those are what we call the face-mask with the eye cups you can see him wearing in the picture above. They're usually intended to keep horses that spook at things such as shadows andother horses coming up close to them with their mind on their business (that being running on the track in front of them). They can also help a horse that needs a little encouragement to keep a sharp turn of foot (meaning quickness). To switch tactics this late in the game could mean that his trainer doesn't think he needs the focusing help that blinkers supply anymore. Or it could mean that he's been showing a bit too much speed in practice, and they want him to learn to rate (meaning to harbor his strength early on) better. Whichever is the reason, any time you introduce something new to a horse is a chance for them to freak out about it and not perform to their best level (horses, as a species, do not prize novel situations). If and how it will affect his performance, remains to be seen.