NYRA's post parade program coordinator scoffed when she typed out the morning-line odds on Channel Maker (English Channel). 20-1 for the 9-year-old gelding going into the GII Bowling Green S. The Bill Mott trainee hadn't won a race in over a year and he'd finished a distant tenth in his last start in the GII Belmont Gold Cup S.
But the racing pundits and handicappers didn't know what she knew: that the hard-knocking old man looked just as good, maybe even better, coming into the Bowling Green than he had three years ago, when a pair of Grade I victories earned him Eclipse Champion Turf Male honors.
If anyone could have predicted Channel Maker's front-running Bowling Green upset, it was Gilda Libero.
Libero has been Channel Maker's “person” for three years. Daily grooming sessions that bring his dapples to a sheen, regular massages and stretches that conclude with handfuls of carrots, and long hours of grazing are all part of the routine that Libero and Channel Maker share.
“To me, he's really special,” she explained. “I don't know whether the fact that I really treat him so special makes a difference. I'll tell Bill that sometimes I don't even know if he likes me and he'll say, 'He likes you. He's different around you.' So I'll take it.”
Libero first met the chestnut gelding affectionately known around the Bill Mott barn as “grumpy” three summers ago in Saratoga. A racetrack lifer, Libero worked for Mott over 20 years ago, but she had not had a position on the backside since 2001. In 2020, the Mott crew called her asking for an extra hand. The pandemic was causing a staffing shortage and they could use her help in the mornings before she needed to be on the frontside for her role in the racing office.
Like many racing fans, Libero had admired Channel Maker from afar and was looking forward to meeting the turf star.
“I remember when I first laid eyes on him,” she recalled. “I saw him standing in the stall and to me, he was magnificent. There was something about him that drew me to him. Then finally I got to walk him one day and that was it. He just embodied these other horses that I'd had in my life.”
One of those horses that Libero saw in Channel Maker was her beloved Clarinet King (His Majesty). Throughout most of his 165 starts over a career that spanned the 1980s, Libero was his greatest fan. She was a barn foreman for Bobby Ribaudo when they picked up the hard-knocking horse, but she took him on and became his groom. She cheered Clarinet King on from afar when he was later claimed and went to race for other stables, and then adopted him as her own when he retired at the age of 12.
It was his eventual passing that drove her away from working on the backside, but she found another heart horse upon her return to the Mott barn a few years ago.
“It took a long time to be ready, because when I go into something it's 100%,” she shared. “It's a tremendous commitment. You have to be ready for the pain because when you loose them, it's brutal. Doesn't matter what age. They're part of your life.”
After a week of heartbreak for the Mott barn following the sudden passing of their talented Art Collector (Bernardini), who lost his life to laminitis, Libero's heart goes out to her good friend Erma Scott, who shared a close bond with Art Collector just as Libero does with Channel Maker. Both women return to the barn every morning because of their passion for the horses they care for.
“There are times even this summer when I don't want to get up in the morning,” Libero admitted. “But as soon as I don't want to get up, I know he's waiting for me. I have to be there for him. That's life, you know? And there are a lot of us like that out there. I'm not special. There are more people on the track like that than people want to give credit for.”
Along with Libero, Channel Maker has a host of other admirers in the Mott barn and beyond. Libero pointed out how the gelding's former exercise rider Patrice, who recently retired and now watches all his races from afar, used to bring Channel Maker hand-picked grass and would give his head a good long scratch after taking his bridle off every day.
Libero among the celebrators of Channel Maker's 2020 Sword Dancer victory | Sarah Andrew
“A lot of people have been with him for a long time,” she explained. “I don't think there is anybody in the barn that doesn't have a fond spot for him in their heart. Everyone takes care of him in their own little way. He doesn't owe anybody anything. We owe him.”
Libero is also quick to note that the horse, while loveable, does have his idiosyncrasies. Libero is not a full-time member of the Mott team this summer, but she is there every day to care for Channel Maker and believes the exclusive attention she can give the gelding in the morning allows him to perform at his best in the afternoon.
“I get to just pay attention to him and not have to worry about, 'Oh, I have to be here to walk this horse or I have to be there to put the blanket on this horse.' It's really nice and relaxed and I think he does better with relaxed. He doesn't like quick movement around him. He tells you what he wants. You just have to listen.”
Even though he didn't win, Libero's favorite race of Channel Maker's was the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup Turf. She had only been working with the Ontario-bred for a few months, but was already his biggest fan and hoped more than anything that she would be able to make the trip to Keeneland with him.
She went to Mott and told him she would pay her own way if need be, knowing there were other members of the team who had been in the barn for longer than she had, but in the end she was able to make it to Lexington. She cheered Channel Maker on as, with his signature high-headed, front-running style, he was passed only in the final strides to claim third.
“I was so proud of him,” she said. “It was as good as winning. He ran better than I think anybody expected him to and I got to be there with him.”
Owned by Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R.A. Hill Stable and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, the earner of $3.8 million will be aiming to make his seventh Breeders' Cup appearance as he returns to the starting gate on Saturday for the 'Win and You're In' GI Sword Dancer S. It will be his sixth straight start in the mile-and-a-half contest, which he won in 2020, and his 29th career Grade I start.
“I think he's going to run a good race,” Libero predicted. “He always tries, never puts in a fluke. You have to love him for that. To me, a win is gravy. Seeing him out there and coming home safe, that's everything. But they're going to have to run to beat him because he's got a heck of a kick for an old boy.”
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