Channel Maker

Channel Maker won his second career start and then finished third in the Grade 3 Summer Stakes at Woodbine. The son of turf champion English Channel closed his 2-year-old season with an unplaced finish in the 2016 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita Park.

Unplaced in his first two starts at three, Channel Maker ran second in an allowance race at Keeneland before another runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Marine Stakes at Woodbine. From there, he ran fourth in the Queen's Plate Stakes, the first jewel of Canada's Triple Crown. He earned a classic win in his subsequent start, winning the Breeders' Stakes by a nose on the turf at Woodbine. After a pair of unplaced finishes in graded stakes, Channel Maker closed his 3-year-old campaign with a second in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby.

Channel Maker ran exclusively in Grade 1 races to start his 5-year-old campaign, with a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes his best effort from his first four races in 2018. He regained his winning form and earned his first graded stakes win on July 28 at Saratoga when he posted a dead-heat victory in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes, closing powerfully to catch Glorious Empire at the finish line in a thriller. He subsequently finished second to Glorious Empire in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational Stakes on Aug. 25 at Saratoga.

In his final prep race for the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, Channel Maker earned a guaranteed starting spot with a front-running victory in the $500,000, Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes. He repelled a persistent Teodoro on the final turn and then had enough fuel in the tank to shake off a bid from Arlington Million winner Robert Bruce in early stretch en route to a 4 ½-length triumph. Channel Maker finished 11th in the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf in his final start of 2018.

Channel Maker made his 5-year-old season debut in the inaugural Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, a $7-million race on Jan. 26, 2019, and finished fifth. After a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida Stakes on March 2, Channel Maker regained his winning form in the Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes when he reeled in pacesetter Hunting Horn in the stretch and then held off late rallies from runner-up Arklow and European invader Magic Wand. He finished fourth in three straight races, including the Grade 1 Manhattan and Grade 1 Sword Dancer, before a runner-up finish to Arklow in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes Oct. 5 at Belmont Park. Channel Maker finished last of 12 in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf in the final race of his 5-year-old season.

Unplaced in each of his first three races in 2020, Channel Maker began to shows signs of his old self when he finished fourth, beaten by only a length, in the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes July 4 at Belmont Park. He finished third next in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes Aug. 1 at Saratoga.

Four weeks later, Channel Maker halted the 10-race winless stretch when he went right to the front on soft turf in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes and led from start to finish in a runaway victory that earned him an expenses-paid berth in the 2020 Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf. He followed with another dominant, front-running victory in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes Oct. 3 at Belmont Park before running a gallant third in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf Nov. 7 at Keeneland. His two Grade 1 wins were enough to earn Channel Maker the Eclipse Award as champion turf male for 2020.

In his 2021 debut, Channel Maker finished second in the Neom Turf Cup at King Abdulaziz Racetrack on Feb. 20, beaten 1 1/4 lengths by True Self. He raced five more times during the year without a victory, competing as usual against some of the best turf runners in North America and abroad. Channel Maker’s best finish at age 7 in the U.S. was a fourth-place effort in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes at Belmont Park.

Returning for an 8-year-old campaign in 2022, Channel Maker won off the bench in the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes at Keeneland by 1 1/4 lengths on Apr. 23. He set a new stakes record by traveling 1 1/2 miles in 2:27.10, missing the track record by just 0.20 seconds. 

Following the Elkhorn, Channel Maker checked in a disappointing ninth of 10 in the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes June 11 at Belmont Park, a race where he broke very slowly from the outside post and was unable to secure his customary forwardly-placed spot in the field. He rebounded with a neck score in the listed Grand Couturier Stakes going a mile and a half at Belmont but then endured a seven-race losing streak that lasted over a year and seemed to indicate that his best racing days were behind him. Channel Maker’s top efforts during that span were a pair of fourth-place finishes in graded stakes at Keeneland.

Midway through his 9-year-old season, Channel Maker made his tenth career start at Saratoga Race Course in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes. Sent off at odds of 15.20-1, he was sent to the lead immediately by jockey Manny Franco and commenced to coast through soft early fractions with light pressure. The gelding had plenty in reserve for the stretch drive, and responded to strong handling by Franco to win the Bowling Green by two lengths. It was his second win in the 1 3/8-mile race following his dead heat score in 2018.

Channel Maker is owned by Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R.A. Hill Stable, and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott. He is out of the stakes winning Horse Chestnut mare In Return and is a full brother to Canadian champion and Grade 1 winner Johnny Bear and a half-brother to stakes winner Court Return.