Grade 3 winner Cause to Believe will attempt to cement a spot in the Kentucky Derby (G1) when he faces nine rivals on Saturday at Hawthorne Race Course in the $500,000 Illinois Derby (G2), a 1 1/8-mile test for three-year-olds.

Conditioned by Jerry Hollendorfer, the gray or roan Maria's Mon colt was among 14 late nominees to the Triple Crown. Owners Peter Redekop and Peter Abruzzo paid the $6,000 supplemental fee by the March 25 deadline to make the consistent, five-time stakes winner eligible for the American classics.

Cause to Believe has six wins and three seconds from nine career starts and a top-three finish in the Illinois Derby would almost certainly give him enough graded stakes earnings to ensure a spot in the Kentucky Derby field, which is limited to 20 horses and determined by graded earnings. His lone graded stakes effort to date was a win in the El Camino Real Derby (G3) for which he earned $137,500 on January 29 at Bay Meadows Race Course.

"I don't think that we've seen the best of him yet," Hollendorfer said. "He does seem to be improving and I'm very happy with the progress that he's made.

"He seems to be filling out a little more with the spring coming on and he's put on a little bit of weight even though we've trained him relatively hard. He's come out of his races well, and I'm happy that he's beaten horses that are still being considered for the Derby."

A winner of five of his last six starts, Cause to Believe enters the Illinois Derby off a four-length romp in the California Derby on March 11 and was tabbed the 5-to-2 morning-line favorite. 

"One of the horses we beat in the El Camino Real came back to win the WinStar Derby by [4 3/4 lengths]," Abruzzo said of Wanna Runner, who captured the 1 1/8-mile WinStar Derby on April 1 at Sunland Park. "We're feeling really good about our horse."

Among the leading challengers in the Illinois Derby is Grade 3-placed stakes winner Sweetnorthernsaint. The dark bay or brown Sweetsouthernsaint gelding won his first two starts this year by a combined 17 3/4 lengths and enters the Illinois Derby off a third-place finish in the Gotham Stakes (G3) on March 18 at Aqueduct.

Grade 3-placed stakes winner Lewis Michael will return to the main track in the Illinois Derby for the first time since a runner-up effort in his career debut at Arlington Park in August. Grade 2-placed Malameeze, Grade 3-placed My Golden Song, and stakes winner Creative Force are also entered.

On the Illinois Derby undercard, stakes winner Victorina is the 2-to-1 morning-line favorite for the $100,000 Meafara Stakes, a six-furlong race for three-year-old fillies. City Dweller, a chestnut Carson City colt trained by Christophe Clement, is listed as the 3-to-1 morning-line favorite for the $100,000 Lost Code Stakes, a six-furlong test for three-year-olds.

The field for the Illinois Derby, in post-position order, with (sire), jockey, weight, trainer, and odds:

1. Malameeze (Saint Ballado), John McKee, 122, Bobby Barnett, 8-to-1;

2. Creative Force (Red Ransom), Eduardo Perez, 122, Chris Block, 30-to-1;

3. Itsallboutthechase (Devil His Due), Christopher Emigh, 122, Garry Simms, 12-to-1;

4. Lewis Michael (Rahy), Frank Alvarado, 122, Wayne Catalano, 20-to-1;

5. Devilofarush (Wild Rush), E. T. Baird, 122, Michael Maker, 30-to-1;

6. Mister Triester (Old Trieste), Brice Blanc, 122, Glen Stute, 8-to-1;

7. Cause to Believe (Maria's Mon), Russell Baze, 122, Jerry Hollendorfer, 5-to-2;

8. Racketeer (Awesome Again), Patrick Valenzuela, 122, Bobby Frankel, 5-to-1;

9. My Golden Song (Unbridled's Song), Christopher DeCarlo, 122, Todd Pletcher, 5-to-1; and

10. Sweetnorthernsaint (Sweetsouthernsaint), Kent Desormeaux, 122, Michael Trombetta, 4-to-1.