Bricks and Mortar

Bricks and Mortar (foaled March 2, 2014) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was named the American Horse of the Year in 2019. After winning four of six starts at age three, he missed most of his four-year-old campaign due to illness. At age five however, he established himself as the top-ranked turf horse in North America with wins in the Pegasus World Cup Turf, Muniz Memorial Handicap, Turf Classic Stakes, Manhattan Handicap and Arlington Million. He then won the Breeders' Cup Turf to complete a perfect year.

Bricks and Mortar is a dark bay horse who was bred in Kentucky by George Strawbridge, Jr. His sire Giant's Causeway was known in Europe as "The Iron Horse" after earning five consecutive Group One victories in a time span of just eleven weeks. Giant's Causeway then became a three-time leading sire in North America, whose notable offspring include Footstepsinthesand, Shamardal and Take Charge Brandi. The offspring of Giant's Causeway have been successful on both turf and dirt.

Bricks and Mortar's dam, Beyond the Waves, won the Prix des Tourelles and was group-stakes placed. "Beyond the Waves wasn't brilliant but was really good," said Strawbridge. "She was known for trying very hard; hence you have Bricks and Mortar trying very hard, and he is a really tough horse." Bricks and Mortars is the third stakes winner that she has produced.

Bricks and Mortar was sold for $200,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September Sales to Klaravich Stables, owned by Seth Klarman, and William H. Lawrence. He was trained by Chad Brown.

Bricks and Mortar did not race at age two. He made his first start on February 18, 2017, at Gulfstream Park over a distance of 1+1⁄16 miles on the turf. He raced in mid-pack for the first six furlongs, shifted to the outside as they turned into the stretch, and closed steadily to win by 1+3⁄4 lengths. In his next start, an allowance race on June 9 at Belmont Park, he ran the final quarter mile in under 22 seconds to win by three-quarters of a length. He then won the Manila Stakes on July 4, closing from last place with a quarter of a mile remaining to win by a neck.

On August 4, he made his graded stakes debut in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga. The favorite was Yoshida, who would subsequently win Grade I races on both turf and dirt. Bricks and Mortar rated just off the pace but ran into traffic problems in the stretch. His jockey shifted him away from the rail until they finally found running room, at which point Bricks and Mortar accelerated rapidly to win by three-quarters of a length. "With this horse," said Brown, "if you set him down in the clear and give him a target, he gets there... He's done everything we've asked."

Bricks and Mortar was narrowly defeated in both of his next two starts, the Saranac to Voodoo Song and Hill Prince Stakes to Yoshida. After the latter race, he was diagnosed with stringhalt, a neuro-muscular condition that affected his right hind leg. The condition became so severe that the horse was unable to gallop. He was operated on by veterinarian Larry Bramlage and took over a year to return to the racecourse. "This is probably one of [Bramlage's] best pieces of work," said Brown. "This horse took a long time and he then had some other issues, some bone remodeling. We tried him back and he needed some more time. When he finally made it back he was better than ever."

Because of the illness and recovery, Bricks and Mortar made only one start at age four, in an allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park on December 22. He rated behind a fast early pace then made a "relentless rally" in the stretch to win by half a length.