We've always thought that having the right stallion for the prevailing environment is a major key to success, and that's well illustrated by Cause to Believe, who is tearing it up in British Columbia this year. Cause to Believe was represented by only nine first-crop foals in 2010, but seven of them have reached the track and all seven are winners. It's Cause to Believe's second crop, however, that is making the headlines. From 47 foals of 2011, Cause to Believe has already been represented by 23 starters, nine of them winners, and four of them stakes winners. The most recent of these is Neverabettercause, who was recording his second victory when marching home 3 1/2 lengths clear in the Ascot Graduation Stakes at Hastings Racecourse.
A son of champion 2-year-old Maria's Mon, Cause to Believe was himself a smart juvenile, winning four of his six starts, including the Bay Meadows Juvenile Stakes, Cavonnier Juvenile Stakes, and Mill Valley Stakes. He trained on at 3 to capture the California Derby (by four lengths over Sinister Minister) and the El Camino Real Derby (gr. III).
The distaff side of Cause to Believe's pedigree is a pretty fancy one. His dam—a daughter of Storm Cat and the grade I-winning Mr. Prospector mare Cuddles—is a sister to the multiple graded stakes scorer Katz Me If You Can. While the immediate background on the distaff side is all Overbrook Farm, if we look a little further back we find this to be a very Canadian, and more specifically an E. P. Taylor/Windfields Farm family. Storm Cat is by Storm Bird, one of the most important stallion sons of Taylor's defining achievement, Northern Dancer, and Taylor also bred the third dam, graded winner Stellarette. The fourth dam is Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Square Angel, and the fifth dam is Nangela (a stakes-winning daughter of Northern Dancer's sire, Nearctic, who had Nearctic and his three-quarter sister Sybil's Sister 1x4).
As Windfields Farm was a dominant force in Canadian breeding for an extended period, Cause to Believe has a background that is likely to connect with a good proportion of the local population. Neverabettercause (TrueNicks A++, view report) is out of a mare by Vying Victor, a son of the Californian Flying Paster, but that horse's second dam is the Windfields mare Victorian Heiress, a close relative to Windfields' many-time Canadian champion sire Vice Regent. Cause to Believe's son Andallthatitmeans (TrueNicks A+, view report), who defeated Neverabettercause to win the Jack Diamond Futurity, is out of a mare by Regal Remark, a son of Vice Regent (the dam is also a parallel Northern Dancer/Raise a Native cross to the dam of Cause to Believe). Cause to Believe's stakes-winning daughter Habida (TrueNicks A++, view report) is out of a mare by Katahaula County, a daughter of another Canadian stalwart, Bold Ruckus (who sired one of his best runners, Beau Genius, out of a mare with pedigree ties to Storm Bird). Whether it's significant or not, we'll also note that all three stakes winners have Prince John lurking in the background of the dam, and two of the three have Never Bend.
