Graded Winner Brickyard Ride Retires From Racing

Alfred Pais' multiple graded stakes-winning 7-year-old Brickyard Ride  has been retired following a Jan. 25 workout.

"He didn't come out of the work as well as he usually does," said trainer Craig Lewis. "Father Time is catching up with him somewhat. He was just a very nice racehorse for us, and we wanted to do the right thing by him."

Lewis also trained Clubhouse Ride , Brickyard Ride's sire. The two shared several characteristics.

"They loved to train, and they were very competitive horses," Lewis said. "Those are terrific assets."

One area where they differed was their running style.

"His sire would settle a lot more than him," Lewis said. "Brickyard Ride just wanted to go for it in all his races."

His speed and difficulty to restrain made for an interesting start to his career. After breaking his maiden, Brickyard Ride encountered a rough trip in a starter optional claiming race at Santa Anita Park Jan. 17, 2020. After several bumps, he ducked into and through the rail in the upper stretch and fell.

However, once the speedster started to grow in experience and age, he saw more success. After that fall, he won four of his next eight races.

"He just seemed to get better and better and learned how to control his speed to some degree," Lewis said.

Making his stakes debut Jan. 16, 2021, in the Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint Stakes at Santa Anita, Brickyard Ride set the pace and drew off to win by 3 1/4 lengths. A month and a half later in the San Carlos Stakes (G2), he drew off on the lead again to win by four lengths.

"He was a lot of fun because he had a lot of speed and he always was in situations where he had to be caught," Lewis said. "If somebody tried to run with him, it would be suicide for the opposing horse."

Brickyard Ride would remain in stakes company for 19 of the last 20 starts in his career. He ended his career attempting a three-peat in the California Cup Sprint Jan. 13, but was denied by grade 1 winner The Chosen Vron , who surged past to win by 2 1/4 lengths.

Brickyard Ride won eight stakes, three of them graded, throughout his career. He won 13 of 31 starts with two seconds and six thirds for earnings of $925,477, retiring as his sire's leading earner.

As far as what's next for Brickyard Ride, there are no plans yet.

"He's going to get the rest of the year off," Lewis said. "Get to relax and enjoy his life."