Bricks and Mortar on fence for Breeders' Cup Turf

Bricks and Mortar, unbeaten leader of the American turf division this year, may start in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile instead of the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, trainer Chad Brown said earlier this week. Both races are Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.

Brown added that whichever race the seven-time stakes winner runs in, he is unlikely to race before then. Bricks and Mortar won his fifth stakes of 2019 in the Arlington Million at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 10 at Arlington Park

“If we put another race into him, it might be a little too much,” Brown said.

Owned by Klaravich Stable and William Lawrence, Bricks and Mortar has never started at the 1 1/2 miles of the BC Turf.

Major stakes in New York and Paris on the first weekend of October will provide a better indication of the leading candidates for the race.

The Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Oct. 5 at Belmont Park is the top American prep race of the autumn. Sadler’s Joy and Channel Cat, second and third to the sidelined Annals of Time in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes on Aug. 24 at Saratoga, are two leading contenders for the 1 1/2-mile race.

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Europe is likely to have a strong traveling team for the BC Turf, with several from the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 6 at Longchamp expected to run.

The field for the 1 1/2-mile Arc is expected to be led by the brilliant mare Enable, who won the 2018 Arc and BC Turf at Churchill Downs, but is not expected to run in the BC Turf this year.

Enable will be challenged in the Arc by Japan, winner of the Juddmonte International on Aug. 21 at York in England; Magical, who won the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes on Sept. 14 at Leopardstown; and Ghaiyyath, who won the Grosser Preis von Baden in Germany on Sept. 1.

Any of those three could appear in the BC Turf. Magical was second to Enable in the 2018 BC Turf.

The European team will not include Crystal Ocean or Logician. Crystal Ocean, who won the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, has been retired because of injury. Logician, who won the Group 1 English St. Leger on Sept. 14 at Doncaster, is unlikely to race again this year, trainer John Gosden said earlier this month.

Two other races will have an impact on the BC Turf field. The Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship on Saturday at Santa Anita is expected to be led by Acclimate, who won the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 17, earning a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf. The Grade 1 Canadian International on Oct. 12 at Woodbine is three weeks prior to the BC Turf, and one of the last prep races.