Bricks and Mortar by a nose in Mervin Muniz

Bricks and Mortar went off at odds of 1-5 in the Grade 2, $300,000 Muniz Memorial Handicap – and won by about 1/5 of an inch.

Markitoff, a 62-1 shot in a field reduced to six after four scratches, controlled a jogging tempo in the Muniz, sprinted home tooth and nail with the odds-on favorite and just came out on the wrong side of a head bob, Bricks and Mortar up by a nose in this 1 1/8-mile grass race.

Synchrony, the 2018 Muniz winner, got caught flat-footed on the far turn when the pace quickened, then was briefly steered inside to make his stretch run before steadying and changing course for an outside finish. He closed well but could only muster third, his first defeat in five Fair Grounds turf-course finishes.

Then came Divisidero, Hot Springs, and Inspector Lynley as Silver Dust, Final Copy, First Premio, and Bandua all were scratched.

Markitoff, a two-time winner from 22 career starts, took the early initiative under Tyler Gaffalione, went a slow opening quarter-mile in 24.82 seconds and proceeded to really back up the tempo, the half-mile split a glacial 51.07 seconds. From there, it was all acceleration in the Muniz, the third quarter going in 24.21 seconds, the fourth in 23.83, and the last eighth-mile in 11.33 for a final clocking of 1:50.44 over firm turf.

Bricks and Mortar ($2.60), trained by Chad Brown for Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence, was headstrong early under Irad Ortiz Jr., who eventually settled his mount into a comfortable rhythm tracking the slow pace.

“I think my horse needs a target,” Ortiz said his decision to wrangle Bricks and Mortar off the lead. “He’s a little light-mouthed and you have to work to get him to settle down.”

Bricks and Mortar pounced on the pacesetter in upper stretch and gained a slight advantage at about the eighth pole but could not shake Markitoff, who used the 10-pound break he got from the 125-pound highweight to full advantage, falling just short of a massive upset.

Bricks and Mortar is a 5-year-old horse by Giant’s Causeway out of Beyond the Waves, by Ocean Crest, and his career record now stands at a glittering 7-0-2 from nine starts. Bricks and Mortar won four of six starts as a 3-year-old of 2017 before missing nearly his entire 4-year-old season recovering from injury and working toward a comeback. He captured a December allowance race returning from the break before landing a huge prize, the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf, Jan. 26 at Gulfstream.

Brown said earlier this week he’s pointing Bricks and Mortar to the $1 million Turf Classic on the Kentucky Derby undercard. Perhaps that seven-figure Grade 1 will come easier than the $300,000 Grade 2 did Saturday in New Orleans.