NEWS: RACING

California shipper Cause We Are Loyal wins Seeking the Ante

Friday, August 25th, 2017

NYRA/Lauren King

By Bill Heller

A maiden romp in open company at Los Alamitos Race Course in California was all trainer Doug O’Neill needed to ship Reddam Racing Stable’s two-year-old New York-bred filly Cause We Are Loyal cross-country to make her New York-bred debut in the 6 ½ furlong $200,000 Seeking the Ante Stakes on Showcase Day Friday at Saratoga.

Rallying under Mario Gutierrez, Cause We Are Loyal rallied from fifth to win the Seeking the Ante by three-quarters of a length. Sent off at 11-1 in the field of nine, Cause We Are Loyal won in a glacial 1:20.21.

“We are so happy,” O’Neill said. “This is such an honest filly. She was showing us all the signs that she was going to run a big race.”

Newport Breeze, who was 6-1 under Jose Ortiz, contested the early pace, fell far back and rallied to finish second, three-quarters of the length ahead of 22-1 Miss Mystique and Rajiv Maragh. Front-running Pauseforthecuase, who was 7-1 under Irad Ortiz Jr., finished fourth, a length and a quarter behind Miss Mystique.

Jorge Wagner bred Cause We Are Loyal, a daughter of Creative Cause out of Rock ‘n Wolin by Not For Love who was purchased for $120,000 as a two-year-old in March. She finished third by 7 ¼ lengths in her debut at 7-1 at Santa Anita May 25th, then won a maiden race at Los Alamitos by 8 ¼ lengths at 8-5. Both starts were in open maiden company.

If O’Neil shipping a horse to Saratoga to win a stakes race sounds familiar, it should. In 2015, he shipped Ralis, one of his less regarded two-year-olds in his stable, to contest the Grade I Hopeful Stakes. Ralis romped in the Hopeful.

Breaking from the five post, Cause We Are Loyal got away fifth as Pauseforthecause, breaking from the three post, and Newport Breeze, who started from the seven post, both went for the lead. Pauseforthecause took a one-length lead on Newport Breeze, who suddenly and dramatically fell back after a :22.10 first quarter. Then Newport Breeze fell all the way back to next-to-last.

Irad Ortiz took advantage of that, taking a two-length lead while backing off the second quarter to reach the half-mile in :46.16. By then, Cause We Are Loyal rallied into second.

Cause We Are Loyal continued to rally on the outside as Newport Breeze reappeared on the scene on the rail in third. Then Jose Ortiz took Newport Breeze outside to pass Pauseforthecause and move into second. Cause We Are Loyal proved best narrowly.

Gutierrez said, “I got a beautiful trip.”

Jose Ortiz’s Newport Breeze obviously did not. “I was in a good position and when the dirt hit her a little bit, she sucked back so far. Then she came back flying. Weird. Very weird.”

Cause We Are Loyal is now two-for-three with one third and earnings of more than $150,000. That could be enough for O’Neill to upgrade him to first-class on the flight back to California. “I don’t know if we’ll take her back to California and run her back against open company,” O’Neill said. “There are a lot of options for her.”

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