Bricks and Mortar to stand stud in Japan

Multiple Grade 1 winner Bricks and Mortar, favored in Saturday’s Arlington Million, will stand at Shadai Farm in Japan upon the conclusion of his racing career

Bricks and Mortar, a 5-year-old son of Giant's Causeway, has won 9 of 11 career starts and has never been worse than third. He was a Grade 2 winner as a 3-year-old in 2017, but was then laid off for more than a year, from October 2017 to December 2018. Since returning, he has won five consecutive races, all for trainer Chad Brown, including the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic, and the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes.

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According to the terms of the stallion deal, Bricks and Mortar will continue to race in the U.S. for owners Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence through the Breeders' Cup, on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita. The horse will then be shipped to Japan to begin stud duty for the 2020 season. The deal is for the horse’s stallion rights only, according to Eugenio Colombo, the bloodstock agent who brokered the deal.

Bricks and Mortar will give Japan a son of European Horse of the Year Giant's Causeway, a perennial leading sire in North America who died last year at age 21. Giant's Causeway's best sons at stud, from his 48 advertised worldwide, stand in Europe, and have had international success. The stallion's European champion Shamardal, residing at Kildangen Stud in Ireland, is the sire of Hong Kong Horse of the Year Able Friend; Hong Kong champion Pakistan Star; Australian champion Faint Perfume; French Derby winner and prominent sire Lope de Vega; additional French Group 1 winners Dariyan and Speedy Boarding; English Group 1 winner Lumiere; Italian Group 1 winners Amaron, Crackerjack King, and Zazou; and Singapore Guineas winner Gingerbread Man. Meanwhile, Giant's Causeway's English 2000 Guineas winner Footstepsinthestand, standing for Coolmore, is the sire of Argentinian champion Infiltrada, Irish Group 1 winner Chachamaidee, Italian Group 1 winner Shamalgan, and New Zealand Group 1 winner Steinbeck.

Giant's Causeway's best sons in North America include First Samurai, who, in more than a decade at stud, is represented by Grade 1 winners Executiveprivilege, Justin Phillip, and Lea, and millionaires Carve and Last Gunfighter. From his first four crops to race, Creative Cause is the sire of Grade 1 winner Pavel and graded stakes winner My Boy Jack; Frost Giant is a leading sire in New York; and Giant Gizmo is a classic sire in Canada. Giant's Causeway is also the sire of Fed Biz, whose oldest foals are 3; Carpe Diem, currently a top-10 freshmen sire; Imagining, also a freshman; Brody's Cause, Not This Time, and Protonico, whose first foals are yearlings; and Destin, who entered stud this year.

- additional reporting by Jay Privman