Without Cause gets her favorite distance
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Without Cause will get a rare opportunity to race over six furlongs on turf Sunday at Aqueduct in a conditioned allowance over the outer turf course for fillies and mares.
“This is her distance,” said Mark Casse, who trains Without Cause. “Going three-quarters is her game.”
The allowance, which is slotted as the fifth of eight races, drew nine, including main-track-only entrant Atarah. Citana will be making her North American debut off a Group 1-placing in her native Argentina, while multiple New York-bred stakes winner Sweet Brown Sugar is making her turf debut. Pandora’s Gift is graded stakes-placed on turf and Tapeta.
Without Cause has had two opportunities to race at six furlongs on turf in her young career, both at Woodbine. She won a nonwinners-of-two-lifetime allowance in June, then was second by a head in a second-level allowance in July. The races yielded career-high Beyer Speed Figures.
“Outside of Woodbine – and now even Woodbine right now because the E.P. Taylor turf course is down because they’re [renovating] it – the only place to run three-quarters of a mile [on turf] is in New York, at Aqueduct. And I guess, hopefully, the new Belmont.”
Without Cause will be making her second start of the year Sunday. She opened her season with a sixth-place finish to eventual Grade 2 winner Moon Spun in the Ladies’ Turf Sprint over five furlongs Feb. 7 at Gulfstream Park.
“Her last race, it was just too short for her,” said Casse.
Without Cause is owned by Ironhorse Racing Stable and T-N-T Equine Holdings. She is by Omaha Beach and out of the mare Withhold, who is a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Regal Glory.
Regal Glory earned $2.6 million. She won her career finale in the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar in 2022 under Flavien Prat. He has the mount on Without Cause from post 3.
Without Cause showed speed in her six-furlong races and could be prominent again, but Casse said placement will be left up to Prat.
“That’s something I don’t really worry too much about,” Casse said. “I’ve got one of the best riders in the world. We’ll let him figure that out on his own.”
Citana is making her first start since May 2025. She has been prepping for her return at the Fair Hill training center for Graham Motion.
Sweet Brown Sugar, who is shortening up from a mile, is by the City Zip stallion Collected. Her turf Tomlinson Rating of 327 is favorable for this test on the grass. She won the $50,000 Niagara at this six-furlong distance in 2024 at Finger Lakes. Dylan Davis has the mount from the rail for trainer Rob Atras.
I’m Mo Joke will get support off a pair of third-place finishes in back-to-back turf-sprint allowances, one at Fair Grounds and the other at Churchill Downs.
Capturing enters off a first-level allowance turf sprint win at Keeneland for trainer Todd Pletcher.
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