Bricks and Mortar targets Turf Classic after Muniz Memorial win

A win is a win is a win, and even if odds-on favorite Bricks and Mortar, one of the best turf horses in the country, needed the luck of a head bob to beat 62-1 shot Markitoff and capture the Muniz Memorial Handicap on Saturday at Fair Grounds, it was another win marked down on his résumé.

“Now when I look at his record – seven wins from nine starts, and the two defeats, he was in trouble – that’s pretty impressive,” said trainer Chad Brown.

Brown was reached by phone in Florida, which is where Bricks and Mortar was to travel from New Orleans on Monday. Brown said Bricks and Mortar had come out of the race in good condition and would do “all his serious training” for his next start, the Grade 1, $1 million Turf Classic on May 4 at Churchill Downs, from Brown’s base at the Palm Meadows training center.

Bricks and Mortar got a 102 Beyer Speed Figure for the Muniz, which Brown now has won twice. Fair Grounds, however, isn’t typically a track Brown targets, and he ran Bricks and Mortar on Saturday mainly as a bridge between the Pegasus World Cup Turf and the Turf Classic.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great race, and Fair Grounds treated us great. It’s not a ship I make a lot, and we ran out of necessity since the gap between the Pegasus and the [Turf Classic] was a little too much time for this horse,” Brown said.

Markitoff made the easiest of leads in the Muniz, going his second quarter-mile in 26.25 seconds down the back straight while under no pressure. Meanwhile, Bricks and Mortar wasn’t easy to settle off the slow tempo, and when he came to Markitoff in the homestretch, the longshot pacesetter, who was getting 10 pounds, had plenty left in the tank. The pair ran their final eighth-mile in a fast 11.33 seconds, Bricks and Mortar just getting his head down at the wire.

“The runner-up ran terrific, and with our horse carrying all the weight, he still ground it out,” said Brown, who trains Bricks and Mortar for Klaravich Stable and William Lawrence.

One race before the Muniz, the California shipper Core Beliefs returned from a long layoff to win his 4-year-old debut in the New Orleans Handicap. He ran nine furlongs in a modest 1:51.36 and got a 94 Beyer. Trainer Peter Eurton said Core Beliefs appeared to have exited his seasonal bow in good shape and would fly back to California on Tuesday. He said he and owner Gary Broad would “sit back and enjoy this for a little while” before plotting a spring campaign for Core Beliefs.

“Of course, we’d prefer to stay in California as much as we can. Shipping like that takes a lot out of them,” Eurton said.

Silver Dust, the winner of the Mineshaft Handicap last month, validated that performance in finishing second in the New Orleans Handicap. Trainer Bret Calhoun said Silver Dust would be pointed to the Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs in early May.