CakePHP Behavior that makes ContainableBehavior respect a Model's default order

ordered_containable.php

<?php
/**
 * Behavior to enhance CakePHP ContainableBehavior by respecting default Model order
 *
 * Makes ContainableBehavior respect Model::order when no other order is specified in
 * the containment. Must be placed before ContainableBehavior in the actsAs array of
 * the Model being queried, like so:
 *
 * var $actsAs = array('OrderedContainable', 'Containable');
 *
 * @author joe bartlett (xo@jdbartlett.com)
 * @license http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php MIT License
 * @package OrderedContainableBehavior
 */
class OrderedContainableBehavior extends ModelBehavior {

/**
 * Runs before a Model::find() operation. Examines the query's containments
 * and supplements them with each Model's default order property if no other
 * is set.
 *
 * @param object $Model Model using this ModelBehavior
 * @param array $query Query parameters
 * @return array
 * @access public
 */
	public function beforeFind(&$Model, $query) {
		if (!empty($query['contain'])) {
			$query['contain'] = (array)$query['contain'];
			
			$containments = $Model->Behaviors->Containable->containments($Model, $query['contain']);
			$containmentModelNames = array_keys($containments['models']);
			
			$this->__addOrdersToContainments($Model, $query['contain'], $containmentModelNames);
		}
		
		return $query;
	}

/**
 * Called by ::beforeFind() to recursively examine a containment and add
 * order information where appropriate.
 *
 * @param object $Model Model $contain applies to
 * @param array $contain Containment from the query being examined
 * @param array $containmentModelNames List of Model names contained in the query
 * @access private
 */
	private function __addOrdersToContainments(&$Model, &$contain, &$containmentModelNames) {
		foreach ($contain as $modelName => $containment) {
			if (!is_array($containment) && in_array($containment, $containmentModelNames)) {
				unset($contain[$modelName]);
				$contain[$containment] = array();
			}
		}
		
		foreach ($contain as $modelName => &$containment) {
			if (is_array($containment) && in_array($modelName, $containmentModelNames)) {
				if (!array_key_exists('order', $containment) && !empty($Model->$modelName->order)) {
					$containment['order'] = $Model->$modelName->order;
				}
				
				$lookDeeper = FALSE;
				foreach ($containmentModelNames as $containmentModelName) {
					if (in_array($containmentModelName, $containment)) {
						$lookDeeper = TRUE;
						break;
					}
					
					if (array_key_exists($containmentModelName, $containment)) {
						$lookDeeper = TRUE;
						break;
					}
				}
				
				if ($lookDeeper) {
					$this->__addOrdersToContainments($Model->$modelName, $containment, $containmentModelNames);
				}
			}
		}
	}

}

You can fork the cake core, add your patches, add test cases, and then issue a pull request.