Channel Maker Set for Sixth Start in Sword Dancer

When the New York Racing Association solicits sponsors for its 2024 stakes races, it should consider contacting AARP to gauge interest in attaching its initials to the circuit's graded stakes for "older" turf males.

So far it has been a banner year for "old timers" on the turf at NYRA tracks and the celebration could continue Aug. 26 on the biggest afternoon of the 40-day meet.

Among the entries for the Travers Day $750,000 Sword Dancer Stakes (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course is a name that has been attached to the race since 2018.

For an astonishing sixth straight year, the now 9-year-old gelding Channel Maker  will be running in the Sword Dancer and he's entering in great form after once again beating Father Time with an impressive two-length score in the July 30 Bowling Green Stakes (G2T) in his last start.

"You don't have many that are winning graded stakes at 9. I've run some that old in allowance races or claimers, but to be 9 in a graded stakes is unusual," trainer Bill Mott said about the son of English Channel who will be chasing an 11th career win in his 55th start. "He's just one of those unique horses. Not many of them can sustain that kind of form. Knock on wood he's been very sound and hasn't had any problems to speak of, which has helped."

Owned by Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R. A. Hill Stable, and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, the 9-year-old is one of a handful of turf stars who have recently appeared in NYRA winner's circles at an age when their contemporaries have either been retired or have become established as a stallion.

In May, the 9-year-old Red Knight  posted his first grade 1 win when he captured the Man o' War Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park. Casa Creed , also trained by Mott, has already won two graded stakes at the Spa, the Fourstardave Handicap (G1T) and the Kelso Stakes (G3T), at the robust age of 7.

Now the Ontario-bred Channel Maker, the 2020 champion turf male, can assure himself of a free spot in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) by winning the mile-and-a-half Sword Dancer, which is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: "Win and You're In."

The $3.8 million earner and four-time grade 1 winner has extensive experience on both fronts, running in the last five editions of the Turf, with his best showing a third in 2020, and posting a win in the 2020 Sword Dancer and a second in 2018 when he was "only" 4.

This time around, off the front-running win in the Bowling Green, the gelding bred by Tall Oaks Farm seems primed for another performance worthy of Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth rather than the Spa's Big Red Spring.

"He's doing great; wonderful," Mott said.

Speaking of the BC Turf, the runner-up in last year's race, Stone Age  will return to the United States for the Sword Dancer and make his first start for trainer Chad Brown.

In his lone 2023 start, the 4-year-old son of Galileo was 12th in the Feb. 18 Amir Trophy (G1) in Qatar.

"So far, so good," Brown said. "I've been impressed with him. He's moving well. I've run out of time with him. I think he's maybe 80% fit but I think if I run him it will set him up for the Joe Hirsch (Turf Classic, G1T, Sept. 30 at Aqueduct Racetrack) or the Breeders' Cup Turf (Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park)."

Owned by Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Westerberg, Stone Age was third last year in the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) and fifth in the Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) for trainer Aidan O'Brien.

O'Brien, the legendary European trainer, will be represented in the Sword Dancer by Magnier, Tabor, Smith, and Westerberg's Bolshoi Ballet , who won the 2021 Belmont Derby but is winless in nine starts since then.

Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Morris Bailey, Wonder Stables, and Michael Caruso's Soldier Rising  will be hoping for better—and bettor—luck in the Sword Dancer after enduring a brutal trip while finishing seventh in the Bowling Green. The 5-year-old Frankel  gelding was previously second in both the Manhattan Stakes (G1T) and Man o' War and was third in last year's Sword Dancer for trainer Christophe Clement, who is seeking a third straight Sword Dancer win.

Soldier Rising ran for purse money only in the Bowling Green after he was inadvertently scratched, a development which wound up saving his backers some cash.

The field also includes Bowling Green runner-up Verstappen ; Daunt , who was fourth in the Bowling Green; and Pioneering Spirit , who will be making his stakes debut off four straight wins.