Grand Cause Thrashes Rivals

7th July 2007

Exciting three year-old Grand Cause (3g Giant's Causeway - Lakab, by Manila) relished a firmer surface at Rosehill on Saturday when he blitzed his older rivals in the 1400 metre welter to win by five lengths.

The striking chestnut has put together a tidy record for leading trainer John Hawkes winning four races and placing three times from seven starts earning prizemoney of $157,500.

A $70,000 purchase for Dynamic Syndications from the draft of Coolmore Stud at the 2005 Magic Millions Yearling Sale, Grand Cause (pictured as a yearling) is a half-brother to stakes-winners Roanoke and European Rose, his imported dam Lakab now back at stud in the Northern Hemisphere.

Grand Cause is one of 28 winners in Australia and New Zealand this season for Giant’s Causeway, whose superior Southern Hemisphere runners include stakes-winners Sangostino and Murjana, as well as stakes-place-getters Evacuate, Uberalles and Causeway Lass.

Giant’s Causeway shuttled to Coolmore Australia for three seasons but is now based permanently at Ashford Stud in Kentucky and is currently running fifth on the leading US sires list with eight stakes-winners this year.