Pegasus: Bricks and Mortar Looks Solid in $7 million Pegasus Cup Turf (G1) Victory

By David Joseph —-

Bricks and Mortar The Pegasus Turf; Photos by Lauren King

Eclipse Winning Trainer, Jockey Team Up in North America’s Richest Turf Race

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence’s Bricks and Mortar, racing for just the second time off a 14 ½-month layoff and first back in graded-stakes competition, rallied from mid-pack with a powerful run through the stretch to capture the inaugural $7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

The debut of the 1 3/16-mile Pegasus Turf for 4-year-olds and up immediately preceded City of Light’s romp in the third running of the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) – the richest races on either surface in North America – on a blockbuster 12-race $16 million Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series program.

Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. for trainer Chad Brown – each of whom were crowned 2018 Eclipse Award champions two days prior at Gulfstream’s Sport of Kings Theater – Bricks and Mortar ($7.60) completed the distance in 1:54.59 over a yielding course to win by 2 ½ lengths.

Irish import Magic Wand, one of three females in the race, put in a frantic late run to catch fellow Grade 2 winner Delta Prince by a neck for second. It was 1 ¾ lengths back to Catapult in fourth, followed by Channel Maker, 2-1 favorite Yoshida, Next Shares, Dubby Dubbie, Japanese mare Aerolithe and Fahan Mura.

“Irad rode him beautiful,” Brown said. “The horse came ready and handled the course. Everything worked out perfectly.”

Front-running California-based mare Fahan Mura, sent off at 40-1, sprinted to her customary spot on the lead and took the field of 10 through a quarter-mile in 22.94 seconds and a half in 47.93, pressed by Aerolithe and 99-1 long shot Dubby Dubbie, but all three were overtaken by a bold move from Catapult on the outside as they approached the far turn.

Ortiz had Bricks and Mortar settled in seventh between horses but well within striking range, putting the 5-year-old son of Giant’s Causeway in the clear four wide and moving into third straightening for home. Just as Delta Prince wrested a short lead from rail-running Catapult, Bricks and Mortar swooped by on the outside and slingshot past, separating from his rivals with every stride.

“I got a perfect trip. My horse put me in a good position and just held it together, saving ground,” Ortiz said. “When I got him kicked out, he exploded.”

Bricks and Mortar was making just his eighth career start, improving to 3-0 over the Gulfstream course. He broke his maiden at first asking in February 2017 and won a one-mile optional claiming allowance Dec. 22 in his first race since finishing third behind Yoshida in the Hill Prince Oct. 7, 2017.

“The horse is good, but the trainer we have to get him credit,” Ortiz said. “He gave him some time off and brought him back, gave him one race in the allowance race and brought him back ready for this race. That’s a lot of work. Not too many trainers can do that. He’s got good horses, but he knows what he’s doing.”

Known for his success with turf horses, Brown was patient bringing back Bricks and Mortar, winner of the Manila Stakes and National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame (G2), the latter over Yoshida, in successive starts in the summer of 2017

“For a little while there, I didn’t think I’d have a horse for the race. I had been resting a lot of them. Bricks and Mortar came in fresh when I was resting other ones. Thanks to Seth [Klarman] and Bill [Lawrence], they were game enough to put up a big entry fee and give it a shot. The horse just performed beautifully,” Brown said.

“Ian Brennan at Stonestreet Farm did a terrific job rehabbing this horse,” he added. “Dr. Larry Bramlage worked on this horse about 16 months ago when it looked like he might have a career-ending injury. He fixed him. There was a lot of teamwork, a lot of patience. When you go into a race this big take a big gamble – it paid off today.”

PEGASUS WORLD CUP TURF INVITATIONAL (G1) POST RACE QUOTES

Winning Time: 1:54.59
Winning Margins: 2 ½, neck, 1 ¾
Winning Payoff: $7.60
Order of finish: Bricks and Mortar, Magic Wand, Delta Prince, Catapult, Channel Maker, Yoshida, Next Shares, Dubby Dubbie, Aerolithe, Fahan Mura.

TRAINER QUOTES

Chad Brown (Bricks and Mortar, 1st): “[Jockey] Irad [Ortiz Jr.] rode him beautiful. The horse came ready and handled the course. Everything worked out perfectly.”

“For a little while there, I didn’t think I’d have a horse for the race. I had been resting a lot of them. Bricks and Mortar came in fresh when I was resting other ones. Thanks to Seth [Klarman] and Bill [Lawrence], they were game enough to put up a big entry fee and give it a shot. The horse just performed beautifully.”

“Ian Brennan at Stonestreet Farm did a terrific job rehabbing this horse. Dr. Larry Bramlage worked on this horse about 16 months ago when it looked like he might have a career-ending injury. He fixed him. There was a lot of teamwork, a lot of patience. When you go into a race this big take a big gamble – it paid off today.”

Jimmy Jerkens (Delta Prince, 3rd): “He had him in a nice spot and he made a nice gradual move. He looked awful tough turning for home but that turf is soft and that was a good horse who won it obviously. Maybe if my horse had been out in a little bit better part of the turf where there haven’t been as many horses running but [the winner] just pulled away from us. [Delta Prince] just got a little tired at the end to lose second but we were really thrilled with his effort.”

John Sadler (Catapult, 4th): “Kind of a strange ride. I thought he moved way too soon. He was in front with a half-mile to go. I thought he’d be covered up a little longer. Maybe he got a little rank, but I haven’t spoken to the jock yet. He ran very well, but a strange trip.”

Bill Mott (Channel Maker, 5th; Yoshida, 6th): “The bottom line is [Yoshida] wasn’t making up much ground on them from the eighth pole to the wire. I’m not going to give him a huge excuse. As it turns out, maybe Yoshida is going to be better on the dirt.”

“[Channel Maker is] a little hard to handle sometimes and sometimes he’ll try and run up on heels. But it looks like eventually he got him out and he had the clear length of the stretch to run them down and just couldn’t do it.”

Bob Hess (Dubby Dubbie, 8th): “He broke great and had a beautiful trip until about the five-eighths pole and then he got surrounded on the outside by a few. Frankly I thought he ran great. We were at ninety plus to one, but I’m real proud of him. Maybe with another two-three weeks with our program, we’ll learn more about him and maybe he can improve a little more.”

JOCKEY QUOTES

Irad Ortiz Jr. (Bricks and Mortar, 1st): “I got a perfect trip. My horse put me in a good position and just held it together, saving ground. When I got kicked him out, he exploded.”

“The horse is good, but the trainer we have to get him credit. He gave him some time off and brought him back, give him one race in the allowance race and bring him back ready for this race. That’s a lot of work. Not too many trainers can do that. He’s got good horses, but he knows what he’s doing, and he’s really good, too.”

Frankie Dettori (Delta Prince, 3rd): “He ran a super race. He has a big heart. He was going so well that I thought turning for home, ‘We’ve got this.’ Just got outrun by two good horses in the end. Super effort. It paid for the expenses – and the night out.”

Joel Rosario (Catapult, 4th): “He broke fine. At one point in the race, I went on the outside and I had him covered up for a second and then I just let him go on with it because I was grabbing him too much at one point. I thought for a second we were going to be fine but probably that hurt him a little bit for the end.”

Javier Castellano (Channel Maker, 5th): “I got a good break out of the gate, I think my horse fell into position, but turning for home I had the opportunity to hook up with the winner, just couldn’t keep up with the pace.”

Jose Ortiz (Yoshida, 6th): “He broke good. He was last but he was in touch with the field and I saved ground. By the backside I wanted to go on but then Channel Maker got position on me so I had to take back a little and drop back in, and I followed Irad from that point on and I thought that I was in a good position before we hit the three-eighths pole but he didn’t give me that late kick.”

Tyler Gaffalione (Next Shares, 7th): “He put in an effort coming into the stretch. He made a nice move around the far turn, just couldn’t sustain it. It was a nice field, but he put in a big effort and great job by [trainer] Richard [Baltas] and his team. They had him ready. Just a tough race. A little more cut in the ground, I don’t think he favors that. But he’ll come back strong and we’ll get him next time.”

Florent Geroux (Aerolithe, 9th): “I was very disappointed to be honest because she got away from the gate very sharply I got a great position. I was laying second off the filly on the lead [Fahan Mura]. So I was in the perfect spot and it didn’t feel like the pace was going crazy fast. I felt like I was controlling things. When Catapult came to me – I thought he came a little bit soon – but when he came next to me, she had no response. She just gave up right away.”