Bricks and Mortar

A stroll down the 500 block of East Maxwell Street in Lexington, Kentucky brings you to the awninged door of Black Swan Books. If your pursuits are less catholic, then Mike Courtney's seemingly endless maze of heaving shelves can accommodate even the most scrupulous bibliophile of rare Kentuckiana and equine sport culture. Say, you're looking for a past volume on the two-time Horse of the Year Secretariat, then copious choices await. More recent works like William Nack's Secretariat: The Making of a Champion (2002) and Lawrence Scanlan's The Horse That...

Even in a market like this one, weirdly insulated from economic and geopolitical chaos, trading Thoroughbreds will always remain a precarious business. Speculators never hesitate, then, to pounce whenever the odds appear skewed temporarily in their favor. Sure enough, with the dollar squeezing other currencies dry, around one in eight of the yearlings sold at the Goffs Orby Sale this week is said to be heading to the U.S.; and they'll have plenty of company out of Tattersalls next week. To one who constantly berates breeders both sides of the...

Following more Classic success, this time with his son Efforia (Jpn) in 2021, Epiphaneia (Jpn) (Symboli Kris S)'s fee has increased to ¥18,000,000 (£117,174/€139,172/$156,021), tops of the Shadai Stallion Station 2022 roster. The 11-year-old also celebrated group winners Aristoteles (Jpn) and Circle of Life (Jpn). Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), the sire of Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn), remains at ¥15,000,000. Kizuna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn})'s fee has been raised to ¥12,000,000 on the back of 11 2021 black-type winners including G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup...

Lord Kanaloa (GB) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) leads the Shadai Stallion Station roster for 2021. The sire of recent dual G1 Japan Cup heroine and Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn), he will command ¥15,000,000 (US$143,654/£107,013/€119,227) tops among the 30-member roster next year. Shadai welcomes three new recruits for the upcoming breeding season-GI Arkansas Derby hero Nadal (Blame) (¥4,000,000), G1 Irish 2000 Guineas victor Siskin (First Defence) (¥3,500,000) and G1 Champions Cup winner Le Vent Se Leve (Jpn) (Symboli Kris S) (¥1,500,000). A trio of stallions stand at ¥10,000,000 and...

Cherie DeVaux remembers a 2-year-old by Giant's Causeway coming in one summer. He was hot and raw and really wasn't showing a lot. Then, at Palm Meadows, she breezed him on turf for the first time. Now Chad Brown has a lot of horses and DeVaux watched plenty of others that morning. And they were just breezing, after all. So it took something special to make her call her boss, away for his Christmas break, as she walked back to the car. "I'm telling you," she said. "This horse is...

The Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders' annual awards luncheon, scheduled for Apr. 8 at Keeneland, has been postponed until the fall. The KTOB announced the 2019 winners via press release, which are as follows: Broodmare of the Year: BEYOND THE WAVES (Owner: George Strawbridge Jr.) Horse of the Year, Male Turf: BRICKS AND MORTAR (George Strawbridge Jr.) Two-Year-Old Male: STORM THE COURT (Stepping Stone Farm) Two-Year-Old Filly: BRITISH IDIOM (Hargus Sexton, Sandra Sexton & Silver Fern Farm, LLC) Three-Year-Old Male: MAXIMUM SECURITY (Gary & Mary West Stables Inc.) Three-Year-Old Filly,...

The stars of racing were out in full force for the 2019 Runhappy Eclipse Awards in Gulfstream Park's Sport of Kings auditorium Thursday night. The newly-minted hosting trio of TVG's Gabby Gaudet, NBC and TVG's Brittany Eurton and Gulfstream's Acacia Courtney led the evening's program, reflecting on a season that had it all--celebration, challenge and above all, tremendous change. While a total of 11 equine champions and five human divisions were crowned, it was a single individual that cast a thread through several of the victorious connections of the night....

Irad Ortiz, Jr. rode four Breeders' Cup winners at the 2019 World Championships--including GI Longines Turf hero and Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar (Giant's Causeway), who he was aboard for all six of his wins from six tries last term. Ortiz's other Breeders' Cup winners were GI Longines Classic winner Vino Rosso (Curlin), GI Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile victor Spun to Run (Hard Spun) and GII Juvenile Turf Sprint scorer Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah). Ortiz won 35 graded stakes in 2019, including 11 at the highest...

Having been nursed back to health over much of calendar year 2018 after being treated for a potentially career-ending case of stringhalt, Bricks and Mortar was an unstoppable force last year and became the first Horse of the Year for trainer Chad Brown Thursday evening. He was also a unanimous winner of the Eclipse Award for older turf male, the third in five years for a Brown trainee (Big Blue Kitten, 2015; Flintshire {GB}, 2016). Underfoot conditions were of no concern to the $200,000 Keeneland September graduate last season, as...

Having been nursed back to health over much of calendar year 2018 after being treated for a potentially career-ending case of stringhalt, Bricks and Mortar was an unstoppable force last year and became the first Horse of the Year for trainer Chad Brown Thursday evening. He was also a unanimous winner of the Eclipse Award for older turf male, the third in five years for a Brown trainee (Big Blue Kitten, 2015; Flintshire {GB}, 2016). Underfoot conditions were of no concern to the $200,000 Keeneland September graduate last season, as...

The 49th annual Runhappy Eclipse Awards will be held Thursday night at Gulfstream Park, with the award show itself beginning at 7:00 p.m. Up for Horse of the Year consideration are Bricks and Mortar (Giant's Causeway), who capped a perfect six-for-six season with a win in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf; Maximum Security (New Year's Day), who annexed the GI Xpressbet Florida Derby before being DQ'd from first to 17th in the GI Kentucky Derby and adding three more graded wins, including two at the highest level, to complete...

A winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita Nov. 2 and unbeaten in six starts last year, Bricks and Mortar (Giant's Causeway) has been named the winner of the 10th annual Vox Populi Award, which will be presented in a winner's circle ceremony Saturday at Santa Anita Park. Created by the late owner of 1973 Triple Crown hero Secretariat, Penny Chenery, the inaugural Vox Populi (Voice of the People) Award was won by the legendary Zenyatta in 2010. Bricks and Mortar was campaigned for owners Klaravich Stables,...