Spooky Channel Gets Perfectly Timed Ride To Win John B. Connally Turf Cup

Trainer Mike Maker had his streak of six consecutive victories in the John B. Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Texas, snapped last year when Brad Cox-trained Dot Matrix defeated Bemma's Boy and Marzo from Maker's deep stable of turf runners.

Maker came loaded again this year, with three starters in Sunday's $200,000, Grade 3 Turf Cup, just as he did in 2020. Once again, however, he had to settle for the minor awards as 3-2 favorite Spooky Channel, from the Brian Lynch stable, collared Maker's pace-setting Conviction Trade inside the furlong pole, then held off a furious late rally by Maker-trained Ajourneytofreedom to win by a neck.

Spooky Channel, a 6-year-old English Channel gelding owned by Terry Hamilton, was clocked in 2:30.94 on a firm grass course for the 1 1/2 miles of the Turf Cup. He paid $5 for the win, his ninth in 18 career starts. Ajourneytofreedom finished a length ahead of Conviction Trade, giving Maker a 2-3 finish for the second year in a row. Tenfold was fourth for trainer Steve Asmussen, with Ken McPeek-trained Signalman fifth in the field of a dozen older runners.

The John B. Connally Turf Cup was one of six stakes – two of them graded – offering over $1 million in purses on Sunday's Houston Racing Festival as Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Texas,

It was a big day for the track, with a record $5.3 million wagered on the 10-race card.

“We are thrilled with the success of this year's Houston Racing Festival and getting a record handle of $5.3 million,” said Frank Hopf, senior director of racing. “It was a team effort from everyone at Sam Houston and our thanks go out to all the horsemen and owners for supporting our meet. This would not be possible without our horseplayers, both here in Texas and nationally. It was a great day.”

Leparoux allowed Spooky Channel to settle into fifth position after breaking from the 10-post in the three-turn Turf Cup. Rafael Hernandez put Conviction Trade in front from the start, going an opening quarter mile in :24.57, a half mile in :48.97 and six furlongs in 1:14.00. Leparoux began asking Spooky Channel to pick it up with a half mile to run, the mile clocked in 1:40.52, and by the time they reached the quarter pole, after 1 1/4 miles in 2:05.67, he was on the front-runner's right flank.

Conviction Trade fought back and maintained a half-length lead with a furlong to run, but Spooky Channel finally put him away just as Ajourneytofreedom and Jesus Castanon emerged on the scene with a powerful stretch rally that came up just short at the wire.

“I have ridden him before and felt he would like this turf course,” said Leparoux.  “Brian and I talked and we knew he would have enough to come off the pace and make his run. He left it up to me and the horse did exactly what he hoped for.”

Spooky Channel began his racing career for Hamilton in Arizona in the care of trainer Clay Brinson, winning six of his first eight starts at Turf Paradise, including the 1 7/8-mile Hasta La Vista Handicap.

After shipping east and being transferred to Lynch's barn (following one off-the-board finish at Canterbury Park), Spooky Channel has won three of nine, including the G3 W.L. McKnight Stakes at Gulfstream Park in January 2020. Following a sixth-place finish in the G1 Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park last July 4, was given some time off, then returned to be fourth in the G2 Ft. Lauderdale at Gulfstrealm Park on Dec. 12. He trained up to the Turf Cup at Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida.

“It was exciting to be part of the big stakes day at Sam Houston Race Park,” said Lynch from his base in South Florida. “Spooky Channel is a true marathoner and ran a great race. Julien is a multiple Eclipse winning rider and I am one of his biggest fans. I am grateful to my owner Terry Hamilton, who is also a great friend.”

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Rushing Fall and Channel Maker Win Eclipse Awards in Turf Divisions

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 neck in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Sportingly kept in training at five by Bob Edwards's e Five Thoroughbreds, the $320,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga steal got this year's delayed Belmont meet off to a rousing start, handily taking the GIIII Beaugay S. June 3 before becoming just the second horse to win consecutive runnings of the GI Coolmore Jenny Wiley S. at Keeneland. That victory made her a top-level scorer for the fourth year in a row and tied Rushing Fall with Take Charge Lady on four Keeneland stakes successes. The bay continued her winning ways in the GI Diana S. at Saratoga Aug. 23, just reeling in front-running Mean Mary (Scat Daddy) and only a letter-perfect steer Pierre-Charles Boudot atop Audarya cost her a perfect season.
Rushing Fall made the short drive from Keeneland to Fasig-Tipton for the 2020 Night of the Stars sale and sold for $5.5 million to Jamie McCalmont, agent for M.V. Magnier, from the Indian Creek draft. Rushing Fall is set to be covered by Galileo (Ire) in 2021.

It's not how you start. It's how you finish.

After a lackluster first half of 2020, Channel Maker (English Channel) ended the year in career form, posting back-to-back Grade I victories and a strong third–beaten only a length–in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Nov. 7, good for three straight Beyer Speed Figures of 108 and the trophy for champion male turf horse.
Off the board in his first four starts of the season, including a fourth-place finish in the GI Manhattan S. July 4, he crossed the wire fourth once again in the GII Bowling Green S. Aug. 1, and was moved up to third via disqualification.

The chestnut continued his affinity for a soft going with a powerful, front-running score in the GI Sword Dancer S. at Saratoga Aug. 29, then added his second career victory in Belmont's GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S. Oct. 3, this time over firm turf.

He gave his backers a good run for their money at odds of 9-1 in the Championships at Keeneland, gamely leading the field of 10 into the final furlong after enjoying a clear advantage into the stretch. He just got nosed out for second by the classy, globe-trotting MG1SW Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

Adam Wachtel and Gary Barber purchased Channel Maker privately as a 2-year-old prior to the 2016 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. R.A. Hill Stable and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing later joined the ownership line in the fall of 2018.

Channel Maker, Canada's champion 3-year-old colt and a full-brother to fellow Canadian champion Johnny Bear, has remained in training at Mott's Payson Park base for a 7-year-old campaign and is being aimed at the $1-million Middle Distance Turf Cup on the Saudi Cup undercard Feb. 20.

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Maker Continues Master Of W.L. McKnight With 1-2 Finish Led By Tide Of The Sea

Trainer Mike Maker continued his domination of the $150,000 W. L. McKnight (G3) at Gulfstream Park Saturday, winning for the fourth time in five years with the 1-2 finish of Tide of the Sea and Temple.

The McKnight, run at 1 ½ miles on the turf, was the fifth of seven stakes on Saturday's program that was headlined by the $3-million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) and the $1-million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1).

Maker started his run of success in the McKnight with Taghleeb in 2017 and followed with victories by Oscar Nominated in 2018 and Zulu Alpha in 2019. Last year, Spooky Channel narrowly ended the winning streak, prevailing by a neck over Maker's Cross Border. Maker also saddled the third- and fifth-place finishers.

Under jockey Tyler Gallalione, Tide of the Sea, owned by Three Diamond Farm, led from gate to wire and stopped the timer in 2:24.57, giving Gaffalione his fourth win of the program. The 5-year-old son of English Channel earned his first graded stakes victory by a three-quarters of a length over Temple, owned by Paradise Farms. Sent off at 4-1 in the wagering, Tide of the Sea paid $10 to win.

Wagering favorite Doswell, whose run in the stretch was compromised when he had to check near the eighth pole, finished third.

$150,000 W.L. McKnight (G3) Quotes

Winning jockey Tyler Gaffalione (Tide of the Sea): “His best races were in front when he gets loose comfortably. He traveled great throughout and I just let him do his own thing. He finished up really well when the horse (Temple) came up and challenged him. All credit goes to Mike (Maker) and his team.”

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This Side Up: A Channel of American Merit

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 been hard to resist another source of annual dismay in compiling our midwinter survey of covering options in Kentucky. And that’s the perennial gap between words and deeds when it comes to turf horses.

Everyone talks a good game these days about the expanding grass program in the U.S. They note the evolving role of synthetics, too, stressing the importance these surfaces may have in preserving our sport from the misapprehensions of welfare campaigners.

And then they go to a horse sale, and do their utmost to make it impossible to stand a turf stallion in Kentucky.

Now don’t get me wrong. After all, I’m constantly berating European breeders for insularity regarding the kind of American dirt prowess that invigorated their gene pool when the founders of Coolmore tapped into Northern Dancer. I’m certain that the best way to break the same empire’s Epsom hegemony, now, would be to repeat the trick and use American stallions that carried dirt speed through Classic distances.

But the other side of the coin is that American breeders also need more adventure. Regeneration should be reciprocal. We can’t get enough Uncle Mo? Well, thank goodness Spendthrift shipped over Caro (Fr). Stroll through the Claiborne cemetery, equally, and ask yourself whether the iconic farm would have left the same imprint on the breed without importing Nasrullah (Caro’s great-grandsire), Blenheim II, Sir Gallahad III and company.

English Channel winning the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Turf | Sarah Andrew

Yet it seems nearly impossible to get sustainable commercial respect for the few stallions making the same journey today; nor for the indigenous turf stallion who offers similar acceleration, stamina and durability.

Today, then, I would just like to celebrate a significant landmark in the career of English Channel.

Whatever else he may be, Calumet’s 19-year-old son of Smart Strike is not a commercial stallion. Only 14 of his yearlings even bothered with the sales ring in 2020, of which a dozen sold for an average of $27,671. This placed him at No. 92 in the national table, and represented zero yield on a covering fee–$27,500 for 2021–that presumably expresses his value to end users instead.

Because these have long known him as a quiet achiever. If Ken Ramsey has been rightly incensed by a lack of commercial recognition for Kitten’s Joy, whose stature as a turf sire has been measured by two general sires’ championships, then chew on this: English Channel matches that Titan of their kind, stride for stride, in all indices. Working from half as many foals (757 across 10 crops, compared with 1,573 named foals across 12 for Kitten’s Joy), English Channel has earned almost precisely the same per starter ($72,083 plays $72,773); and his percentages stack up almost eerily whether in black-type winners (7.1% for English Channel against 6.5%); black-type horses (11.5% against 11.7%); graded stakes winners (3.7% against 3.1%); graded stakes performers (6.3% against 6.1%); Grade I winners (1.2% against 0.9%); and Grade I horses (tied at 2.1%).

This comparison, to be clear, is intended only to exalt English Channel–and not to belittle Kitten’s Joy, whose neglect by most elite European breeders I have repeatedly rebuked in these columns. But it is only right, given this parity of performance, to record that English Channel has just been crowned champion turf stallion by North American earnings (also by North American/European purses; ditto Northern Hemisphere) for the first time.

Until the posthumous championship of Giant’s Causeway last year, courtesy of Bricks and Mortar, this title had been a six-year lock for Kitten’s Joy. So let’s give English Channel his day in the sun, and congratulate Calumet for their success–in this instance, at least!–in a conspicuous determination to stand up for their principles against the tide.

Calumet Farm | Sarah Andrew

Under its present ownership this historic farm has assembled a stallion roster that verges, in commercial terms, on eccentricity. But it is unmistakably a repository for precisely those genetic assets most under threat in the American breed, and future generations may yet look back and decide that Calumet was ahead of its time. The twin foundations of the roster appear to be proper, deeply-rooted Classic pedigrees and/or robust constitution.

I asked Eddie Kane, its general manager, whether the soundness that is one of English Channel’s calling cards makes him a suitable flagship for what Calumet is trying to do. “The team at Calumet hopes the industry’s new focus against illegal medications and practices will further shift breeders from a short-term mentality towards a more economically sustainable focus on soundness and longevity,” he replied. “English Channel’s trademarks are consistency, durability and longevity. In terms of racing value, he is constantly on or near the top.”

The obvious problem is that precisely those assets many of us consider most critical to the breed have somehow become the least commercial. How can the industry achieve a higher commercial premium for the kind of durability and stamina offered by English Channel?

“We wish we knew the answer to this one,” says Kane. “It seems many are content with the process of pushing 2- and early 3-year-olds, retiring them to stud, pumping up their first couple crops in the sales ring and then moving on. We attempt to support our stallions in the shed and stick with them. We think this benefits our breeders in the long run.”

Kane recognizes that other stud farms do this, too. But he finds it no easier to solve similar challenges about the undervaluing of grass horses. How do we get people to stop just talking the talk, and actually go to the sale ring and make it commercially viable breeding to turf stallions?

English Channel’s Travers winner V. E. Day | Lauren King

“Another very tough question,” he admits. “It is largely impacted by purses. NYRA’s 3-year-old program was a positive move in that direction. The prestige in European racing lies with turf. Here it is dirt. Many prioritize the Derby, the Triple Crown, etc. If English Channel, with six Grade I wins and the race record of his offspring, was all dirt, he would command three to four times the stud fee. You can’t say it’s right or wrong: it is just the reality of our market, the economics and the perception of prestige associated with certain races and titles.”

Yet while everyone can see major and ongoing improvement in earning potential for turf horses in North America, that is simply not being reflected in the sales ring. Moreover, those big players who are targeting such opportunities are instead doing their shopping in Europe. And doing so successfully, for now. But they must be wary of importing a ticking time bomb from the European gene pool, which is increasingly divided between a Classic bloodline that’s approaching saturation and upgraded cheap speed that will never sustain a Classic agenda.

Maybe they’ve been spending too much time with the English agent who so exasperated me when blithely announcing that he never goes to Keeneland because American breeders are obsessed with speed. If that gentleman were remotely competent to spend the funds of his wealthy patrons, he would understand that–for all the deficiencies of the American market–two-turn stallions here actually achieve far more “commercial” traction than do those of Classic profile in his domestic one. (I know, I know: getting mad again…)

The key, as I say, is that reciprocal transfusion. And if European breeders are nowadays too myopic to risk dirt blood, perhaps they should at least be a little more receptive to American turf stallions. They will certainly get value. David Redvers needed just $160,000 to buy a European champion by Kitten’s Joy, Roaring Lion, at Keeneland September in 2016. Yet European breeders remained so obtuse that he was able to return to the same sale two years later and find Classic winner Kameko, by the same sire, for $90,000.

It was only in 2018 that Kitten’s Joy was given a fresh start at Hill ‘n’ Dale, Ramsey having threatened to stand him in Europe if he didn’t get more respect. And I reckon all concerned with the horse would cheerfully trade the turf crown lost to English Channel for the striking improvement in the averages achieved by his first yearlings bred under a new regime. In a market meanwhile buffeted by the pandemic, Kitten’s Joy nonetheless advanced his 2020 yearling average to $139,505 from $86,367, elevating him from No. 33 to No. 17 in the table. (Remember these were also conceived at a more sporting fee, Hill ‘n’ Dale having immediately cut him to $60,000 from $100,000.)

That feels like a very wholesome development. The bigger picture, however, remains depressing. Flintshire (GB) (Dansili {GB}), for instance, has depended largely on support by his partnership to get started at the same farm. I am convinced that his first books will produce runners, but it looks like he won’t be “commercial” any time soon.

As I said at the outset, however, neglect spells opportunity. And perhaps there might yet be Europeans far-sighted enough to try English Channel. As it happens, that was one of the aspirations mentioned by Kane, when asked how the horse could still round off his resume.

“Well, there are a few things actually,” he says. “As a Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, one or more of his offspring repeating that accomplishment would be an important achievement. Also we feel a greater presence in European racing would be fruitful. And finally, we believe he is underrepresented on the dirt, as would be indicated by his sire Smart Strike, his [paternal] half-brother Curlin and offspring such as Travers winner V.E. Day, as well as the multiple graded stakes winner Optimizer who was the only 3-year-old of his crop to run in all three legs of the Triple Crown.”

Heart to Heart winning Keeneland’s Maker’s 46 Mile, one of two GI wins for the son of English Channel in 2018 | Coady

That’s another drum I’m always beating: the unsuspected versatility of horses whose reputation as specialists, because never stretched, becomes self-fulfilling. Take English Channel’s son Heart to Heart, at Crestwood: don’t tell me that 10 wire-to-wire stakes wins wouldn’t parlay into dirt speed. As it is, he’s a not a bad poster boy for his sire, with graded stakes wins five seasons running and 18 triple-digit Beyers. And his first two dams are by sons of Deputy Minister and, oh yes, Caro.

Few European breeders will even have heard of him. Nor would they necessarily think English Channel worth the journey if popping over the road from Blue Grass Airport to inspect him. But there’s no pleasing some people: they will then complain that dirt stallions are all too big and square.

“Biggest is not necessarily best, if so we would grade them by weight and height,” Kane remarks. “We feel he has the ideal size with balance and athleticism. He crosses well with almost any mare.”

Kane notes that English Channel has a particularly good record with daughters of Kitten’s Joy, with 14 winners from 16 starters including four at graded stakes level. That’s fun to see, because they aren’t just business rivals. They are also companions in arms; a mutual channel for the good stuff.

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