Brody's Cause (foaled March 17, 2013) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He has won

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

races at two and three years of age and was regarded as a contender for the

2016 Kentucky Derby The 2016 Kentucky Derby was the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby. The race was run at 6:51 pm Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United State ...

. After finishing unplaced on his debut he won a

maiden race In horse racing a maiden race is an event for horses that have not won a race. Horses that have not won a race are referred to as maidens. Maiden horse races are held over a variety of distances and under conditions with eligibility based on the se ...

and then took the Grade I

Breeders' Futurity Stakes The Breeders' Futurity Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early October at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky. Currently offering a purse of $500,000, the race is open to two-year-old horses and is run ...

before finishing third in the

Breeders' Cup Juvenile The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually in late October or early November at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup ...

. In 2016 he ran poorly in the

Tampa Bay Derby The Tampa Bay Derby is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for three years old horses over the distance of miles on the dirt scheduled annually in March at Tampa Bay Downs racetrack in Oldsmar, Florida. The event currently carries a purse ...

before taking the

Blue Grass Stakes The Blue Grass Stakes, currently the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes due to sponsorship by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is a horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky. The race is run ...

Background

Brody's Cause is a bay horse with a white blaze and three white

socks A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. In the late ...

bred in Kentucky by William Arvin Jr., Gabriel Duignan & Petaluma Bloodstock. He was sired by

Giant's Causeway The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of ...

, who was the

European Horse of the Year The Cartier Racing Awards are awards in European horse racing, founded in 1991, and sponsored by Cartier SA, Cartier. The award winners are decided by points earned in group races (40%) plus the votes cast by British racing journalists (30%) and rea ...

in 2000 and later won three sires' championships in North America. His other good winners have included

Shamardal Shamardal (27 March 2002 – 16 April 2020) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in the United Kingdom and in France and was voted the 2004 European Champion Two-Year-Old. Background Bred at Watercress Farm in Paris, Kentucky, Shamardal w ...

Footstepsinthesand Footstepsinthesand (foaled 15 February 2002) is a retired, undefeated Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire who was bred in the United Kingdom but trained during his racing career in Ireland. He won both his races as a two-year-old in 2004 and w ...

Ghanaati Ghanaati (foaled 28 March 2006) is an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career which lasted from September 2008 and October 2009 she ran six times and won three races. After winning one minor race as a two-year-o ...

Take Charge Brandi Take Charge Brandi (foaled 7 February 2012) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. A descendant of the outstanding broodmare Take Charge Lady, she was one of the leading juvenile fillies in North America in 2014. After winning only one of her fi ...

and

Rite of Passage A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...

. Brody's Cause's dam Sweet Breanna showed good racing form in her native Canada, winning three times and being placed in the

La Lorgnette Stakes The La Lorgnette Stakes is a Thoroughbred horse race run annually since 2000 at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Held during the third week of September, the ungraded stakes race is open to three-year-old fillies. It is raced over a ...

and the

Woodbine Oaks The Woodbine Oaks is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Inaugurated in 1956, it is the premier event for Canadian-foaled three-year-old fillies and the first leg of the Canadian Triple Tiara s ...

. She was a female-line descendant of

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is the ninth winne ...

's grand-dam Imperatrice. In September 2014 the

yearling Yearling may refer to: *Yearling (horse), a horse between one and two years old *''The Yearling ''The Yearling'' is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the Mo ...

was consigned to the

Keeneland Keeneland Association, Inc. is an equine business based in Lexington, Kentucky. It includes two distinct divisions: the Keeneland Race Course, a Thoroughbred racing facility, and Keeneland Sales, a horse auction complex. It is also known for it ...

sale and was bought for $350,000 by

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...

and Susan Albaugh's Albaugh Family Stable. The colt was sent into training with

Dale Romans Dale L. Romans (born August 14, 1966 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer, best known for winning the 2011 Preakness Stakes with Shackleford and the Breeders' Cup Turf with Little Mike. He also upset American Pha ...

Racing career

2015: two-year-old career

Brody's Cause began his racing career in a one-mile

Ellis Park Race Course Ellis Park is a thoroughbred racetrack near Henderson, Kentucky, just south of Evansville, Indiana. It is owned and operated by Churchill Downs Incorporated. While the track is located north of the Ohio River that forms the border between Kentuc ...

on August 1 when he was well supported in the betting but finished eighth of the ten runners behind One Legend. On September 11 the colt started favorite for another maiden over the same distance at

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was ...

. Ridden by Emmanuel Esuivel he started steadily before making his challenge on the wide outside entering the straight. He took the lead in the last hundred yards and won by one and a quarter

lengths Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...

from Conquest. Three weeks after his win at Churchill Downs, Brody's Cause was stepped up sharply in class for the

Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, a race which saw

Corey Lanerie Corey James Lanerie (born November 13, 1974) is a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. Based in Kentucky, he has been the leading rider at Churchill Downs, having won the most races during a race meet, 10 times. He has also been named th ...

take over as his jockey.

Saratoga Special Stakes The Saratoga Special Stakes is an American grade II thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid-August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The race is for two-year-olds willing to race six furlongs on the dirt. With its first ru ...

winner

Exaggerator Exaggerator ( foaled February 5, 2013) is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse, winner of the 2016 Preakness Stakes. Racing as a two-year-old in 2015, he won three of his six starts including the Saratoga Special Stakes and the Delta Jac ...

started favorite with Brody's Cause being made the 11.8/1 sixth-choice in an eleven-runner field. Racing on a muddy track, Brody's Cause was restrained by Lanerie in the early stages before making progress on the outside in the stretch. He overhauled Exaggerator in the final strides and won by a length. Lanerie commented "I think the sky is the limit for him. Just the way he does things, he does it so easy", while Romans described the winner as "just a damn good horse". On his final appearance as a two-year-old Brody's Cause started second favorite for the

at Keeneland on October 31. After racing towards the rear of the fourteen runner field before making steady progress in the straight to finish third behind Nyquist and Swipe.

2016: three-year-old career

On March 12, 2016 Brody's Cause began his second season in the

a Grade II trial race for the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...

run over eight and a half furlongs at

Tampa Bay Downs Tampa Bay Downs is an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility located in Westchase in Hillsborough County in the U.S. state of Florida, just outside Tampa. It opened in 1926 under the name Tampa Downs, and has also been known as Sunshine Pa ...

. He was made the 2.3/1 favorite but after being bumped at the start he finished seventh of the nine runners behind the

Todd Pletcher Todd Pletcher (born June 26, 1967 in Dallas, Texas) is an American thoroughbred horse trainer. He won the Eclipse Award seven times as Trainer of the Year, four of these in consecutive years. His horses Super Saver (2010) and Always Dreaming (20 ...

-trained Destin.

Luis Saez Luis Saez (born May 19, 1992) in Panama City, Panama) is a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. Saez rode Maximum Security to finish first in the 2019 Kentucky Derby but was subsequently disqualified due to interference. The two later won ...

took over from Lanerie when Brody's Cause returned to Grade I class for the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 9. He started the 4.2/1 second favorite behind the Fountain of Youth Stakes runner-up Zulu, with the best of the other twelve runners appearing to be the Chad Brown-trained My Man Sam and the Romans stable's other runner Cherry Wine. Brody's Cause was held up as usual as the outsider Laoban set the early pace, before making strong progress on the outside approaching the final turn. He maintained his run into the stretch, took the lead a furlong out and won by one and three quarter lengths from My Man Sam, with Cherry Wine a head away in third. After the race Romans described the winner as "a prototype Derby horse". On May 7 Brody's Cause was one of twenty colts to contest the

. Although he had been regarded as a leading contender in the build-up to the race his odds drifted badly on the day and he started a 24.9/1 outsider. He raced wide for most of the way and made some progress in the closing stages but never looked likely to challenge the leaders and finished seventh behind Nyquist.

Stud career

Brody's Cause entered stud in 2017 at

Spendthrift Farm Spendthrift Farm is a thoroughbred race horse breeding farm and burial site in Lexington, Kentucky, currently owned by Eric & Tammy Gustavson. It was founded by Leslie Combs II and named for the great stallion Spendthrift, who was owned by Combs' a ...

Notable progeny

''c =

colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: *Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People * Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places *Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...

, f =

filly A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: *In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old. *In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, t ...

, g =

gelding A gelding is a castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male equine to be calmer and better-behaved, makin ...

Pedigree

* Brody's Cause is

inbred Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders and o ...

3x4 to Roberto, meaning that the stallion appears in both the third and fourth generations of his pedigree.

References

{{Reflist 2013 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States Thoroughbred family 2-s