Bricks and Mortar tries to stay perfect in Saranac

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – He may not win his races by much, but there’s no arguing with perfection when it comes to Bricks and Mortar, who’ll put his unblemished record on the line against eight rivals Saturday at Saratoga in the Grade 3, $300,000 Saranac. The Saranac is for 3-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Bricks and Mortar, unraced at 2, has won all four of his starts, beginning with his maiden win at Gulfstream Park in February. His last two victories have come against stakes company: by a neck in the one-mile Manila on July 4 at Belmont Park, and by three-quarters of a length here one month later in the Grade 2 Hall of Fame. In the Hall of Fame he was good enough to wear down Yoshida despite being shuffled briefly and out-moved by that rival entering the stretch.

“This seems like the logical thing to do,” said trainer Chad Brown, who trains Bricks and Mortar for Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence. “He just seems to be getting better with every start and he’s a very competitive horse, he knows how to win. I think he’ll handle the mile and one-eighth, but that will be the one test for him, going a little farther.”

Bricks and Mortar will carry high weight of 123 pounds under the allowance conditions of the race, with regular rider Joel Rosario aboard.

Yoshida bobbled briefly at the start of the Hall of Fame, but recovered to race within easy striking distance of the leaders, just behind and outside Bricks and Mortar. He made a quick move to engage for command into the stretch and got the jump on Bricks and Mortar, but was second best. The 92 Beyer Speed Figure he received was a career best. Trained by Bill Mott, Yoshida is the only member of the field to have won at 1 1/8 miles, having captured his maiden at that distance by four lengths last spring at Keeneland.

Bricks and Mortar isn’t the only undefeated 3-year-old in the field. Mr Havercamp ships down from Woodbine having won his two starts by a combined 12 lengths, although he’ll get both a class and distance test in the Saranac.

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The pace figures to be legitimate with the red-hot Voodoo Song in the lineup. A former claimer, Voodoo Song has already won three times during the Saratoga session, all wire-to-wire victories for trainer Linda Rice, including a New York-bred entry-level allowance race going 11 furlongs racing on just four days’ rest July 26.

Mo Maverick figures to prompt the early issue coming off a pace-stalking 1 1/2-length victory in Monmouth Park’s Lamplighter for trainer George Weaver. Mo Maverick proved no match for Yoshida when finishing a tiring third behind that rival in the one-mile John W. Murphy Stakes on Preakness Day at Pimlico.

Rounding out the lineup are Makarios, a wide-running fifth in the Hall of Fame; two-time stakes winner Master Plan; and recent allowance winners Rocketry and Caviar Czar.