Bricks and Mortar Arrives Safely in Japan
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Bricks and Mortar after winning the Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita Park
Bricks and Mortar has arrived safely in Japan Dec. 22 to take up stud duty at Shadai Stallion Station according to the Japanese news outlet and blog, Umaichi.com.
Breeding rights to the 5-year-old son of Giant's Causeway were acquired by Teruya Yoshida's Shadai Farm in a deal brokered by bloodstock agent Eugenio Colombo in early August, just before Bricks and Mortar won the Aug. 10 Arlington Million XXXVII (G1T) at Arlington International.
A candidate for 2019 Horse of the Year, Bricks and Mortar went on a tear in 2019, winning all six graded stakes he was entered in, five of which at the highest level. Overall, the horse trained by Chad Brown for Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence only lost twice in his 13-race career over turf, placing third in both of those efforts.
Bricks and Mortar made his racing debut in February 2017 and after winning the Gulfstream Park maiden special weight, he went on to score three more time that year, picking up a win in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2T), before placing third in the Saranac (G3T) and Hill Prince (G3T) stakes.
Late in 2017, the colt developed a condition in his hock known as stringhalt, which was severe enough to require surgery with a 50:50 prognosis for success. He returned in December 2018 in allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream and won his only start of the year.
He rolled into 2019 with a victory in the inaugural Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) Jan. 26 and followed with five more wins culminating in the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.
Bred by George Strawbridge Jr., Bricks and Mortar is the fifth black-type performer produced by group-placed, stakes winner Beyond the Waves, by Ocean Crest.
Shadai Stallion Station, which lost Japan's longtime leading sire Deep Impact this year, also stands top Japanese sires Heart's Cry, a son of Sunday Silence, King Kamehameha, and his son, Lord Kanaloa. Among American stallions that will stand alongside Bricks and Mortar at the farm are grade 1 winners Mind Your Biscuits, Kurofune—who was bred in Kentucky but raced in Japan—and Drefong.
Fees for Bricks and Mortar and New Year's Day, the newest American recruits for 2020, are set at ¥6 million ($54,795) and ¥3 million ($27,275), respectively.