Joe Labozzetta Photo

Bricks and Mortar rallies for thrilling win in Manila

by Brian Bohl

Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence's Bricks and Mortar ran down Big Handsome and Secretary At War in deep stretch to win in the final jumps in an exciting finish to the fourth running of the $100,000 Manila for 3-year-olds on Tuesday, Independence Day, at Belmont Park.

Bricks and Mortar improved to 3-for-3 in his career for trainer Chad Brown, winning his stakes debut by a neck in completing one mile on the Widener turf in 1:33.12.

Secretary At War raced to the front, overtaking 3-5 favorite Big Handsome to set the early fractions of 23.98 seconds for a quarter-mile with the half going in 47.89. The Jimmy Jerkens trainee maintained the lead heading into the top of the stretch with Secretary At War in close pursuit. In the final sixteenths, jockey Joel Rosario moved Bricks and Mortar four-wide off the rail, completing the furious rally in the last strides.

"He is a very nice horse; he has a very nice finish," Rosario said. "It looked like on paper there was going to be speed today that set up for a good finish, so I was confident with him that we were going to get there when I was asking him.He always tries hard. I was never concerned in the race. Sometimes you say, 'how am I going to get there?' But he did it. He can really run."

Bricks and Mortar stayed undefeated and has won two straight at Belmont after winning his debut on February 18 at Gulfstream Park. The dark bay Giant's Causeway colt went off at 3-1 and paid $8.60 on a $2 win wager, improving his career earnings to $136,800.

"He ran really, really well," said Cherie DeVaux, assistant to Brown. "The pace wasn't that fast and Joel found a good position on the rail and he when he found his way out, he really accelerated and finished strong to the wire." 

Big Handsome, trained by Tony Dutrow, took second place in a photo finish after a troubled trip, finishing a head in front of Secretary At War.

Holiday Stone, Kitten's Cat, Dover Cliffs and Harlan's Harmony completed the order of finish.