Raise Cain Owners Reach 'Rarified Air' of Derby

Andrew Warren has been to the Kentucky Derby (G1) before but that was with his parents, who started multiple horses in the Run for the Roses. Now, at 41, Andrew and his wife, Rania, are here with their own Derby starter, Raise Cain , who earned them their first stakes win with a 23-1 upset in the Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack.

A son of Violence  , Raise Cain followed up his Gotham win with a fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland. 

"The second half of the race he was really good," Warren said. "If he improves a little bit the stamina could carry him on. He's not super sharp out of the gate but he's got stamina."

Raise Cain is also the first Derby starter for trainer Ben Colebrook. 

"Ben has praised his mind," Warren said. "He's a relaxed horse. He doesn't get agitated or anxious. He seems to absorb all of those unique experiences and circumstances that he'll see Saturday.

"He's coming in at a good level of fitness; he's well rested. Ben doesn't push them too hard and thinks his fitness is good. I think he's at his peak level so hopefully he has his career day."

Andrew was introduced to racing by his parents, William and Suzanne Warren, who have campaigned classy runners, and quality stallions, like City of Light  , winner of the 2019 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) and 2018 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), and Saint Liam , the four-time grade 1 winner and 2005 Horse of the Year. 

William and Suzanne's best Derby runner was Denis of Cork , who in 2008 ran third behind Big Brown  , going from 20th to third under a classic Calvin Borel ride (one year before everyone would learn what a "classic Calvin Borel ride" looks like).   

"I was wide-eyed and amazed," Warren remembered. "It was amazing to share that experience with them and be involved in it."

When City of Light went to stand at Lane's End, the younger Warren thought it would be fun to get a mare and breed to the horse that brought his family so much joy. But once Warren started he got sucked in even more than he expected. 

"I just wanted to try it with one mare," he said. "Then I added a few more and then added a few colts.

"It's hard to resist growing the operation. You're looking for a needle in a haystack in the sales and that process of trying to locate that one diamond is a lot of fun. One horse is going to win the Derby out of the crop out of 20,000 and you're trying to find it."

Warren's first few years as an owner and breeder were not fruitful. But 2023 brought him two stakes winners. Scoobie Quando  broke his maiden in the Turfway Prevue Stakes in January. Then Raise Cain, who had broken his maiden at Keeneland by 5 1/4 lengths as a 2-year-old, shocked the Gotham. 

"I'd had 262 races before I got a stakes win," Warren said. "Some people go a lot longer than that but it's still a lot of time to wait when you're paying bills.

"All the struggle and all the work and all the disappointments when you think you might have something and you don't, it's deflating," Warren said. "So to reach this rarified air of the Derby with 20 horses out of 20,000 is the most special experience you can have."

Warren, based in Tulsa, Okla., is CFO of his family's company, which owns and operates oil and natural gas leases. He has other ventures, including the new Big Baby Rolls & Donuts, the first donut shop in Tulsa specializing in gluten-free offerings. 

"It's more of a headache than anything else but it's fun," Warren said. 

He could have been talking about his racing operation in its early years. For a while there Rania kept telling Andrew that if he acquired one more horse he better name it Last Horse Before Divorce. But more horses followed anyway, including Raise Cain, and ironically now that he's a Derby horse, talk of the Warrens scaling back their operation has quieted.