R.A. Hill Stable | Horse Racing Free Tips

Channel Maker Back for More at the Breeders’ Cup

Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R. A. Hill Stable and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing's Channel Maker (English Channel) will be looking to regain his best form while making a record-setting sixth Breeders' Cup appearance in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Saturday at Keeneland.

“The owners are very excited to give him an opportunity to run and I think he would be the first to run six times, a record, at the Breeders' Cup,” said trainer Bill Mott. “How's he doing? Well, he's doing fine…he's doing great…but is he at his best from two years ago? Or has he lost a step at 8-years-old? Perhaps, but we'll see how the race shapes up.”

The 8-year-old gelding was seventh in the 2016 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf S. and was 11th in the 2018 Turf and 12th in 2019. He had his best finish of championship weekend when third after setting the pace in the 2020 Turf at Keeneland, a result which helped the Ontario-bred earn the Eclipse statue as the country's leading turf horse. A year ago, he was fifth in the Turf.

Channel Maker opened 2022 with a win in the GII Elkhorn S. and he also won the Grand Couturier S. in July, but he was off the board in the GI Manhattan S., GI Sword Dancer S. and is coming off a fourth-place effort in the Oct. 14 GIII Sycamore S.

“He still ran a good race in his last race and he does love Keeneland,” Mott said. “He was third and was beaten just a half-length in the Breeders' Cup here and he won the Elkhorn here earlier this year. According to the handicapper, there's not a tremendous amount of speed in the race and he likes to be up close to the pace. If the pace and situation are right, maybe he can get a piece of it.”

Mott will also be represented in Saturday's Turf by the ultra-consistent War Like Goddess (English Channel), a perfect two-for-two over the Keeneland lawn and coming off a win over the boys in the Oct. 8 GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S. The George Krikorian colorbearer has nine wins and has finished off the board just once in 12 career starts.

“She's training well,” Mott said of the 5-year-old mare. “It would be great to win with her.”

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Lone Rock Shortens Up Successfully, Takes Tinsel Stakes At Oaklawn

Lone Rock has made his reputation as a long distance specialist, winning at a mile and a half and beyond more than once in 2021, but he showed in the inaugural Tinsel Stakes at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort that he can win at nine furlongs as well. Over a muddy track in Hot Springs, Ark., the gelded son of Majestic Warrior dug in gamely to outlast stablemate Thomas Shelby and take the stakes by a length.

At the break, jockey Reylu Gutierrez hustled Huge Bigly out to the lead, with Thomas Shelby, Warrior's Charge, and Lone Rock following. Into the first turn, Huge Bigly was a length and a half in front, as Thomas Shelby and jockey David Cohen bided their time in second, with Warrior's Charge and Lone Rock stalking down the backstretch. As they approached the far turn, Cohen sent Thomas Shelby on Huge Bigly's outside, taking the lead with Warrior's Charge looking for room to make his play for the lead.

Lone Rock was caught in traffic on the turn, cutting to the inside of Thomas Shelby as the field enterted the stretch. The two stablemates dueled down the Oaklawn straight, with Beau Luminarie rallying on the far outside. Lone Rock was able to dig in and pass Thomas Shelby, hitting the wire three-quarters of a length in front. Thomas Shelby held on for second as Beau Luminarie's late challenge was not enough to catch the two front runners.

The final time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:49.77. Find this race's chart here.

Lone Rock paid $5.60, $3.60, and $2.80. Thomas Shelby paid $4.60 and $3.80. Beau Luminarie paid $4.00.

Bred in Kentucky by Town and Country Horse Farms and Pollock Farms, Lone Rock is out of the Hard Spun mare Ruby Lips. He is owned by R. A. Hill Stable and Flying P Stable and trained by Robertino Diodoro. Lone Rock was consigned by Taylor Made Sales and sold to Shortleaf Stable for $55,000 at the July 2016 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale. The 6-year-old gelding has seven wins in nine starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of 14 wins in 37 starts and career earnings of $1,144,921.

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Lone Rock Sets Track Record In TAA Stakes Win At Del Mar

Lone Rock, 2021's master of the long-distance dirt race, posted his sixth win of the year in the 1 5/8-mile Grade 2 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Del Mar. On the Breeders' Cup undercard, the 6-year-old gelding set a track record of 2:42.61, breaking the record for the rarely contested distance that has stood since 1957.

Coming off a last-out second in the Grand Prix American Jockey Club at Belmont Park, Lone Rock stayed a length off frontrunner Tizamagician from the break, biding his time throughout the marathon TAA Stakes. Locally Owned, who beat Lone Rock in the Grand Prix last-out, was third, with Cupid's Claws and Hapi Hapi rounding out the field. On the final turn, Lone Rock made his bid for the lead, pulling even with Tizamagician entering the stretch, as Locally Owned tired and fell back.

In the Del Mar stretch, Lone Rock took the lead easily, striding away from Tizamagician to win by 1 1/2 lengths. Cupid's Claws came on for third. Hapi Hapi and Locally Owned rounded out the order of finish. Find this race's chart here.

Lone Rock paid $5.00, $2.80, and $2.10. Tizamagician paid $2.60 and $2.10. Cupid's Claws paid $2.60.

Winning jockey Ramon Vazquez pledged to donate 10% of his earnings from his mounts on Breeders' Cup Saturday to the family of jockey Miguel Mena, who was killed in a pedestrian accident in Louisville, Ky., earlier this week.

“No special instructions for me. He just said to ride him like you know how. I had a good trip all the way. I was very confident in my horse and he was running well. At the eighth pole, I asked and he ran hard. He's a good horse,” Vazquez said after the race.

“It played out the way we thought it would. We expected (Tizamagician) would go and we would make him use a little bit to clear us. Then when it was time, he likes it on the outside and we could go get him. This is such a good horse. He makes our jobs easy,” Sean Williams, trainer Robertino Diodoro's assistant, told the Del Mar Press Office after the TAA Stakes.

Bred in Kentucky by Town & Country Horse Farms and Pollock Farms, Lone Rock is by Majestic Warrior out of the Hard Spun mare Ruby Lips. The gelding is owned by Flying P Stable and R.A. Hill Stable. Lone Rock was consigned by Taylor Made Sales and sold to Shortleaf Stable for $55,000 at the July 2016 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale. With this win, the 6-year-old gelding has six wins in eight starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of 13 wins in 36 starts and career earnings of $1,024,921.

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Lone Rock Works Out In Anticipation Of Next Start At Del Mar

Flying P Stable and R.A. Hill Stable's Lone Rock, winner of the Grade 2 Brooklyn and two other stakes going 1½ miles or more, worked an easy half-mile in :52.80 over a muddy main track at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., Saturday morning for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

It was the first work for Lone Rock since finishing second in the 1 5/8-mile Grand Prix American Jockey Club Invitational at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., on Sept. 18. Lone Rock is being pointed to the $250,000 Grade 2 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., on Nov. 6 going 1 5/8 miles.

“He will have two more works here and leave Nov. 2 for Del Mar,” said Diodoro, who claimed Lone Rock for $40,000 last November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Lone Rock has five victories and two seconds in his seven starts for Diodoro.

Diodoro also said that Cypress Creek Equine and Arnold Bennewith's Dream Lith, who finished in a dead heat for fifth in the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades on Oct. 8, is being pointed to the $400,000 Grade 2 Golden Rod at Churchill Downs on Nov. 27.

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