Channel Maker

Though he hasn't displayed the form that saw him named champion turf male in 2020, Channel Maker is still showing he can be competitive on the track in his 8-year-old season. Given five months off following his fifth-place effort behind Yibir (Dubawi {Ire}) in last November's GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, Channel Maker returned sharp off the layoff to take the GII Elkhorn S. at Keeneland Apr. 23. When last seen, he was never part of the race after blowing the start, coming in ninth in Belmont's GI Resorts World...

The first two across the line in a thrilling renewal of this summer's GI Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer S. will face off once more in a seven-horse renewal of the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S. over 1 1/2 miles on the Belmont turf Saturday. Otter Bend Stables' Gufo (Declaration of War) has yet to be out of the trifecta in 12 career outings and picked up stakes scores in the GI Belmont Derby Invitational S., GIII Kent S. and English Channel S. last year as a sophomore to...

Chad Brown has two chances to capture his fourth renewal of Saratoga's GI Sword Dancer S. Saturday with morning-line favorite Tribhuvan (Fr) (Toronado {Ire}) and Rockemperor (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}). The event is a "Win and You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf S. A two-time winner in his native France, Tribhuvan was privately purchased by these connections and moved Stateside to Brown. He scored his first Stateside win in his third attempt in a Belmont optional claimer last summer and was subsequently shelved. Making a victorious return...

The 2020 racing season was fraught with many challenges, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic, and halted racing in New York for about three months, continuing to wreak havoc with on-track attendance at many of the nation's racing venues throughout the remainder of the year. And while for many it was a time of turmoil and struggle, it proved to be a banner season for Wachtel Stable, campaigning not one but two Eclipse champions in 2020--Vequist (Nyquist, Champion Juvenile Filly) and Channel Maker (English Channel, Champion Turf Male). "Unfortunately, I...

A winner over hurdles in Ireland, a multiple listed winner on the flat in the UK, a dual Group 3 winner in Australia and now a winner in Saudi Arabia: True Self (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}) has nearly done it all, and at age eight she appeared at the peak of her powers on Saturday when overhauling America's reigning champion turf horse Channel Maker (English Channel) in a beautifully executed ride by Hollie Doyle to win the $1-million Neom Turf Cup in Riyadh. Dropping back to race midpack as the field...

The first three home in last year's Red Sea Turf Handicap have all returned to Riyadh for this $2.5 million staying contest over 3,000 metres. The trio is led by the George Strawbridge homebred Call The Wind (GB) (Frankel {GB}), whose victory over Mekong (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Prince Of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}) was followed through the French summer with wins in the G3 Prix de Barbeville and G2 Prix Kergorlay.  Freddy Head, who arrived in Saudi in time to see the 7-year-old have an easy canter on Thursday...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—A number of trainers with horses engaged in Saturday's Saudi Cup have been unable to travel but their horses and exercise riders have shipped in, mostly over last weekend, for the second running of the $20 million contest at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. The 14-strong field includes two locally-trained horses, Great Scot (GB) (Requinto {Ire}) and Alzahzaah (KSA) (Worldly), who face competition from Britain, Japan and Bahrain as well as five runners from the United States. For most of the American contingent, stronger work had taken place on the...

Second in the balloting for champion 2-year-old filly of her generation in 2017, 'TDN Rising Star' Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) joined the likes of former Chad Brown stablemates Lady Eli (Divine Park, 2017), Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}), 2018) and Uni (GB) (More Than Ready) to become the stable's fourth Eclipse Award-winning turf female in a row and second in succession for her legendary sire. To do so, she outpointed GI Breeders' Cup Turf heroine Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) and Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who defeated Rushing Fall by a...

A year ago, a brigade of American runners dominated results in the inaugural running of the $20-million Saudi Cup, taking four of the top five placings in the world's richest race. Another top-level group of U.S.-based horses are set to return to Riyadh for the second running of the 1 1/8-miles race Feb. 20. Leading the group is Charlatan (Speightstown), who returned from a layoff to record a scintillating victory in the Dec. 26 GI Malibu S. last month. The newly turned 4-year-old worked six furlongs in 1:12.60 (1/5) at...

It doesn't make me mad anymore. Maybe it's just the idealism of youth ebbing away. But I have also begun to understand the virtue of markets. If people want to breed to unproven stallions, that's their prerogative. I can always buy a mare, send her to a sire of runners, and see y'all in the starting gate. If I'm right, the odds are in my favor; I get value from the market. And if I'm wrong, well, no need to be angry. Even in setting all that aside, however, it's...

Winner of the 2018 GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational S., Channel Maker (English Channel) made amends for a close second in last year's renewal with a front-running score in the 2020 edition Saturday at Belmont. Taking up his preferred position at the head of affairs, the chestnut clicked off splits of :22.89, :49.44 and 1:14.45. Still in front turning for home, the hard-knocking gelding kept on finding in the lane, rolling clear to victory. "We would have wanted to envision it working out this way and it worked out,"...

Seemingly written off last time out as a declining 8-year-old gelding, Channel Maker (English Channel) caught everyone napping with a dominant wire-to-wire score in the GI Sword Dancer S. over soft turf. Saturday, the chestnut will return to the scene of his previous two Grade I triumphs in the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational S. at Belmont. Capturing the 2018 Turf Classic in similar fashion--wire to wire over soft turf--Channel Maker was out of the trifecta in his next three tries, but rebounded with a determined victory in the...