![]() ![]() Bricks and Mortar got off to a good start and settled into a comfortable rhythm in stalking position under Irad Ortiz Jr. Still eligible for a third-level allowance race and without a stakes win to his credit, United stepped into the starting gate for the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Turf a 51.60-1 longshot.Īcclimate (41.30-1) set the pace in the Turf with two more longshots, Bandua and United, tracking from a few lengths back. After an allowance win at Del Mar, United rallied from well off the pace to finish third by 1 ½ lengths in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship Stakes at Santa Anita in his final prep for the Breeders’ Cup. The Giant’s Causeway gelding did not race until he was 3 years old and didn’t make his stakes debut until the fourth race of his 4-year-old season, running second by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes May 25 at Santa Anita. Seeking his 10 th career Breeders’ Cup victory, Mandella had adopted a patient approach with United that was beginning to pay dividends. In 2019, Bricks and Mortar’s main challenge came not from the international contingent but rather from the host track’s own backyard as local legend Richard Mandella, who in 2003 won four of eight Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita, entered up-and-comer United. Nonetheless, Bricks and Mortar had not lost a single race in 2019 for trainer Chad Brown and he entered the starting gate as the even-money favorite in a 12-horse field.īut as racing fans know from experience, there is no sure thing in racing and just when you think a favorite looks like a lock, especially in the Breeders’ Cup, a spoiler emerges to make things interesting. ![]() While he won his four subsequent starts, three of those Grade 1s, the 5-year-old by Giant’s Causeway had a habit of leaving those victories in doubt until deep in the stretch as three of his wins came by margins of three-quarters of a length or less. (Ky.)īricks and Mortar began 2019 with a 2 ½-length rout in the $7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes in January. Winning owners: Klaravich Stables and William H. ![]()
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