Shadai buys breeding rights to triple Grade 1 winner Bricks And Mortar

Teruya Yoshida's Shadai Farm has purchased the breeding rights to Bricks And Mortar, a three-time Grade 1-winning son of the late Giant's Causeway who is undefeated this year and has amassed more than $4.3 million in earnings, according to bloodstock agent Eugenio Colombo, who brokered the deal.

"Being by Giant's Causeway is a big positive because he is a sire of sires," Colombo told BloodHorse. "Bricks And Mortar is a magnificent individual. With his conformation and his racing ability, he is the full package."

Bricks and Mortar will continue to race in the US through an anticipated start in the Breeders' Cup World Championships for Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence. The horse will be shipped to Shadai Farm in Japan following the championships.

Bred by George Strawbridge jnr, Bricks And Mortar is the fifth black-type performer produced by Group-placed, stakes winner Beyond The Waves (by Ocean Crest). She is also the dam of Grade 3 winner Emerald Beech (Maria's Mon), multiple stakes winner Beyond Smart (Smart Strike), Grade 3-placed winner Sir Ector (Dynaformer) and multiple Listed stakes-placed winner Water View (Petitionville).

Arthur Hancock III's Stone Farm consigned Bricks And Mortar for Strawbridge at the 2015 Keeneland September Yealing Sale, where bloodstock agent Mike Ryan picked him out for trainer Chad Brown. The colt was bought for $200,000 under the name Oaks Bluff Partners and sent to Brown, who races him for longtime partners Seth Klarman and Lawrence.

Bricks And Mortar quickly lived up to the high expectations surrounding him, winning his first four starts, including the Manila Stakes and National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes. Late in 2017, the colt developed a condition in his hock known as stringhalt. The condition was severe enough to require surgery with a 50:50 prognosis for success. The owners rolled the dice with renowned surgeon Dr Larry Bramlage and have since been rewarded far beyond expectations.

"Ian Brennan and his staff down in Ocala at Stonestreet broke the horse for us and have rehabbed him every time he's had an injury," Brown told BloodHorse following the horse's victory in the Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park in June.

"They've done a remarkable job. There was one point I didn't think the horse would come back, and Ian saw it through with his staff to really put a lot of time in. When he finally sent him back, he told me, 'You're good to go. This horse is doing better than ever.'"

The Manhattan was Bricks And Mortar's fourth consecutive Graded stakes win for the year and his fifth consecutive win since he returned to racing in December in an allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park. Now five, Bricks and Mortar launched his 2019 campaign in grand style by taking the inaugural $7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream. He has gone on to win the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial Handicap, Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic Stakes and the Manhattan.

Bricks And Mortar has earned a 120 rating so far this year by the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, which makes him the second-highest-rated US-based horse behind McKinzie, who just captured his fourth Grade 1 victory in the Whitney Stakes and is rated 121.

The Arlington Million on Saturday will be Bricks And Mortar's next start. He is the 8-5 morning line favourite for the 1m2f event at Arlington.

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