European Horse of the Year Giant’s Causeway, a perennial leading sire in North America who died last year at age 21, left a legacy behind at stud. However, many of his best sons have been based overseas. Joining those ranks is Bricks and Mortar, a candidate for 2019 Horse of the Year, who recently arrived at Shadai Stud in Japan to begin his stallion career next year. However, a pair of Grade 1-winning freshman sires by Giant’s Causeway recorded their respective first stakes winners on Saturday at Laurel Park, doing their best to keep their sire’s flame burning in the U.S. Monday Morning Qb, by Imagining, won the $100,000 Heft Stakes and Bella Aurora, by Carpe Diem, won the $100,000 Gin Talking Stakes for fillies. Maryland-bred Monday Morning Qb won the Heft by three-quarters of a length in his anticipated stakes debut. The colt had been the program favorite for the Maryland Juvenile Futurity earlier in December, but was scratched the morning of the race with a temperature. “He was a little bit off his feed," trainer Robert E. 'Butch' Reid said. "This is a big, good-doing horse and he never misses an oat in the morning. He left a little feed and ended up with a temperature of close to 103. Fortunately he fought it off well and it was only a couple of days, but I’m very glad we didn’t push our luck with him last time. I was impressed because we asked a lot of him – coming on the road, coming to a track we weren’t familiar with, and going the seven-eighths of a mile. I always felt this horse was a distance horse. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface with him, I think." Millionaire Imagining, who stands at Anchor and Hope Farm in Port Deposit, Md., raced as a homebred for the Phipps Stable. He is from the outstanding family responsible for champion Rhythm, Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, and Grade 1 winners Bluegrass Cat, Callback Dance Number, Frost Giant, Girolamo, Got Lucky, Imagining, and Private Account – as well as leading Maryland sire Not For Love. Imagining’s biggest win came in the Grade 1 Man o' War Stakes at 1 3/8 miles on the turf. He also won the Grade 3 Red Smith Handicap at the same distance and the Grade 3 Pan American Stakes at 1 1/2 miles, and placed in four other Grade 1 events on the turf. "We want to go a longer distance, so our next stop will probably be to find a two-turn race for him somewhere," Reid said of Monday Morning Qb, who has now won two of three starts. "That’s what I think he’s looking for. He’s actually really bred for the grass, too. His father was a turf horse, so there may be some turf racing in the future for this horse, also. He’s a horse that I think we can have a lot of fun with.” Virginia-bred Bella Aurora has had a busy campaign, with three wins from six starts while never finishing worse than third. After finishing second in the Jamestown Stakes at Colonial Downs and third in the Anne Arundel County Stakes at Laurel, she broke through with her 1 1/2-length win in the Gin Talking. Carpe Diem stands at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., which co-campaigned him with Stonestreet Farm. He was a Grade 1 winner at ages 2 and 3, taking the Breeders’ Futurity and the Blue Grass Stakes, both at Keeneland. Giant's Causeway's best sons at stud, from his 48 advertised worldwide, stand in Europe, including his champion Shamardal, residing at Kildangan Stud in Ireland. The late stallion’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; Brody's Cause, Not This Time, and Protonico, whose first foals are yearlings; and Destin, who entered stud this year.