Bricks and Mortar gets the distance, wins Breeders’ Cup Turf

Forget not getting the distance. It looked like Bricks and Mortar could have used a bit more ground in both winning Saturday’s $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf and solidifying his case for Horse of the Year.

Undefeated in six starts this season, the 5-year-old son of Giant’s Causeway found a seam in the stretch, then rallied from mid-pack to nip United by a head at the wire of the 12-furlong Turf, his first race beyond 1 1/4 miles. Anthony Van Dyck was another 1 1/4-lengths back in third. 

Trainer Chad Brown weighed going in this spot or shortening up in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. In this case, the sporting decision paid off, with Bricks and Mortar adding to victories in the Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) and Arlington Million (G1), among others.

"This horse is remarkable," Brown said. "This is the biggest win of my career, and the biggest for my team, for sure. He has a lot of guts. What an awesome horse. We’re so, so fortunate he’s in our barn.

Now, Brown’s set to get his first Horse of the Year after Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence's Bricks and Mortar completed 1 1/2 miles in 2:24.73 under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.

Behind United, the 3-year-old Anthony Van Dyck led the European charges in third.

“This is a special horse," Ortiz said. "Hè might be the best I’ve ever ridden. Today, hè was a little keen with me, so we were closer to the pace than normal.  So, I just tried to get him to relax. When I asked him to run, I looked behind me and saw we were clear.  Hè saw that other horse in front of us and hè fought all the way to the wire.  I knew it was very close, but I thought we won it." 

Bricks and Mortar, scheduled to stand at stud next year in Japan, paid $4.00 in the field of 12.

Bricks and Mortar kicked off his likely Horse of the Year campaign with the Pegasus win and went on to add the Marvin Muniz Memorial (G2) at Fair Grounds, Turf Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs and Manhattan Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park prior to his win in the Turf.

With the $2.2 million winner's share of the Turf, Bricks and Mortar will end his racing career with $7,085,650 in earnings and a record of 13 11-0-2 that includes five Grade 1 victories.