Bricks And Mortar Sires First Stakes Winner In Japan

American Horse of the Year Bricks And Mortar (Giant's Causeway) sired his first stakes winner when his first-crop son Gonbade Qabus (Jpn) ran out a two-length winner of the G3 Saudi Arabia Royal Cup at Tokyo on Saturday.

A winner over this course and distance on his debut in June, the 8-1 chance jumped well and floated back through the field to race at the tail down the backstretch as Reve Genial (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) cut out fractions of :23.30 for the first 400 metres and :46.90 for the half-mile. Produced for his run around the 500-metre mark, the blaze-faced dark bay fanned out into the middle of the course by the quarter-pole, drove past his rivals 200 metres later and won going away in this 1600-metre affair. It was tight for second, with the short-priced favourite Bond Girl (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) a neck in front of Strauss (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}). Reve Genial hung on four fourth, another three-quarters-of-a-length behind.

Pedigree Notes

The winning Deep Impact mare Affilato (Jpn) took until her 6-year-old year to earn black type, and she accomplished that with a third in the G3 Nakayama Himba S. At stud, Gonbade Qabus is the second winner of two foals out of Affilato, who also has a yearling colt by Epiphaneia (Jpn).

His second dam Lady Of Venice (Fr) (Loup Solitaire) won a trio of graded races in the U.S., and, in addition to Affilato, produced the G3 Keisei Hai second Action Star (Jpn) (Agnes Tachyon {Jpn}). Father back in the pedigree is Classic winner and sire Soviet Star (Nureyev)and GI Santa Barbara H. heroine The Very One (One For All).

Saturday, Tokyo, Japan
SAUDI ARABIA ROYAL CUP, ¥63,050,000, Tokyo, 10-7, 2yo, 1600mT, 1:33.40, fm.
1–GONBADE QABUS (JPN), 123, c, 2, by Bricks and Mortar
                1st Dam: Affilato (Jpn), by Deep Impact (Jpn)
                2nd Dam: Lady of Venice (Fr), by Loup Solitaire
                3rd Dam: Lacewings, by Forty Niner
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. 1ST GROUP WIN. O-G1 Racing;B-Shiraoi Farm (Jpn); T-Noriyuki Hori; J-Kohei Matsuyama;

¥33,315,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, ¥40,515,000. Click for

   the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.Werk Nick
   Rating: D. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Bond Girl (Jpn), 121, f, 2, Daiwa Major (Jpn)–Coasted, by
Tizway. 1ST BLACK TYPE. 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE.(¥210,000,000 Ylg '22 JRHAJUL). O-Susumu Fujita; B-NorthernFarm (Jpn); ¥13,090,000.

3–Strauss (Jpn), 123, c, 2, Maurice (Jpn)–Blumenblatt (Jpn) by

Admire Vega (Jpn). 1ST BLACK TYPE. 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE.O-Carrot Farm; B-Northern Farm (Jpn); ¥8,345,000.Margins: 2, NK, 3/4. Odds: 8.60, 0.40, 1.80.Also Ran: Reve Genial (Jpn), Ecoro Mars (Jpn), Win Acteur (Jpn), Meiner Bricks (Jpn), Happy Surprise (Jpn), Marine Bunker (Jpn).