Connections plotted the schedule early and had a blueprint: the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic in May, the Resorts World Casino Manhattan in June, the Arlington Million in August, the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf in November. Bricks and Mortar had run in those four races and won them all on the way to an Eclipse Award as champion older male turf horse and Horse of the Year of 2019. Chad Brown trained Bricks and Mortar for Klaravich Stables, and they would follow the same path in 2021 with the homebred Domestic Spending, who had ended his 3-year-old season of 2020 with a flourish and looked like could be mentioned in the same breath as Bricks and Mortar. It didn’t work out as well for Domestic Spending as it had for Bricks and Mortar. Making his season’s debut in the Turf Classic at Churchill, Domestic Spending finished with a flourish, but a couple patches of subtle trouble kept him from winning the race outright, the gelding finishing in a dead heat for win with Colonel Liam. The two met again in the Manhattan and this time it was no contest, Domestic Spending cruising to a 2 3/4-length score over his pacesetting stablemate Tribhuvan, Colonel Liam clunking home eighth. This was Domestic Spending’s defining performance of the season, achieved, albeit, with help from a de facto rabbit who set a very strong pace for the 1 1/4-mile distance. Domestic Spending, performing at the peak of his powers, traveled sweetly from the start, displaying the capacity for a long, sustained run that accompanies his high-level athleticism and turn of foot. His Manhattan tour de force yielded an excellent 106 Beyer Speed Figure and Domestic Spending came out of the race clearly the best turf horse in North America. :: Full list of 2021 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories It was nearly a 2 1/2 -month wait for Arlington, the Million renamed the Mr. D. Stakes for 2021, its purse reduced to $600,000, though the wait was all part of the year-long plan. But this time, with no pacemaker entered, Domestic Spending found himself in a tough spot. An unheralded gelding named Two Emmys set a walking pace, closing with just enough energy to hold clear the odds-on favorite. Domestic Spending, finishing fast as ever, could not quite reach Two Emmys, who, to his credit, had been a good second behind Colonel Liam in the Muniz Memorial in March at Fair Grounds. Brown didn’t blame jockey Flavien Prat for the loss, saying that taking Domestic Spending out of his game and going for an early run wouldn’t have worked, either. Domestic Spending did lose something in that defeat and the Breeders’ Cup Turf was supposed to offer a chance at sweet redemption, but Domestic Spending was injured the week of the race while training at Del Mar and removed from consideration. Still, his two major wins, the Turf Classic and the Manhattan, revealed the depth of his quality and were enough to make him an Eclipse Award finalist. Domestic Spending is a Kentucky-bred son of Kingman out of the Street Cry mare Urban Castle.