Bricks and Mortar Eyes Perfect Season in BC Turf

It's been a long and demanding 2019 campaign for Bricks and Mortar.

It all started in January, when Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence's 5-year-old captured the first running of the $6.7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) by 2 1/2 lengths.

Four starts in graded stakes followed, three of them grade 1 tests such as the Arlington Million XXXVII Stakes and Manhattan Stakes.

Now with a 5-for-5 record in 2019 and sitting atop the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Top Thoroughbred Poll, the Chad Brown-trained son of Giant's Causeway is poised for a rare achievement. If he can put an exclamation point on an unbeaten season Nov. 2 at Santa Anita Park by winning the $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T), it could wrap up Horse of the Year honors and position him as just the second recipient of that honor to exit the Turf, joining Kotashaan in 1993.

"If he wins the Breeders' Cup Turf, it would be remarkable," Brown said, "and it would go down as one of the better campaigns by a male turf horse in a long time."

Fittingly, Bricks and Mortar's final test looms as his most difficult challenge as he will be tested at 1 1/2 miles for the first time in what will be his 13th career start.

Unraced since winning the Aug. 10 Arlington Million, Bricks and Mortar was also pre-entered in the TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) but Brown opted for the 1 1/2-mile Turf. In his five 2019 starts, Bricks and Mortar has raced at distances ranging from 1 1/8 miles to his career long of 1 1/4 miles.

"Some of these horses as they get older, they lose some of their speed when they run long," Brown said. "I'm not so sure anymore if after running in back-to-back mile-and-a-quarter races that he'll have the turn of foot necessary to get up in time at a mile at Santa Anita.

"The more I've observed him lately, he's really relaxed nicely in his works and the way he's finishing them off. He's matured so much mentally. He'll be able to settle and get the mile and a half. At first I was leaning toward the Mile because of the layoff. Then I looked at the layoff between the (Aug. 11) Beverly D. (G1T) and the (Nov. 3 Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, G1T) that Sistercharlie faced last year and she overcame while going long, so I think Bricks and Mortar will be fine."

The major threats for Bricks and Mortar among his 11 rivals include Donegal Racing, Joseph Bulger, and Peter Coneway's Arklow and Adam Wachtel, Gary Barber, R. A. Hill Stable, and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing's Channel Maker, who finished 1-2 in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T); Godolphin's multiple grade/group 1 winner Old Persian; and the group 1-winning 3-year-old Anthony Van Dyck from trainer Aidan O'Brien's barn who is owned by Coolmore connections Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith.

Entries: Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, November 02, 2019, Race 11

• Grade I
• 1 1/2m
• Downhill turf
• $4,000,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 4:40 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Zulu Alpha (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	126	Michael J. Maker	20/1
2	2Acclimate (CA)	Martin Garcia	126	Philip D'Amato	20/1
3	3United (KY)	Flavien Prat	126	Richard E. Mandella	20/1
4	4Mount Everest (IRE)	Wayne Lordan	122	Aidan P. O'Brien	15/1
5	5Anthony Van Dyck (IRE)	Ryan L. Moore	122	Aidan P. O'Brien	3/1
6	6Channel Cat (KY)	Luis Saez	126	Todd A. Pletcher	15/1
7	7Alounak (FR)	Clement Lecoeuvre	126	Waldemar Hickst	20/1
8	8Bandua (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	126	Jack Sisterson	20/1
9	9Bricks and Mortar (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	126	Chad C. Brown	9/5
10	10Old Persian (GB)	William T. Buick	126	Charles Appleby	4/1
11	11Arklow (KY)	Javier Castellano	126	Brad H. Cox	12/1
12	12Channel Maker (ON)	John R. Velazquez	126	William I. Mott	10/1