Filly by Late English Channel Scores at Kentucky Downs

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Filly by Late English Channel Scores at Kentucky Downs
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Photo: Keeneland/Coady Photography
Spooky Channel wins the 2021 Sycamore Stakes at Keeneland

This column highlights the performances of maidens who have made no more than five starts and who either sold for more than $500,000 at public auction, have siblings that are graded/group winners, or have dams that are graded/group winners. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners, in particular, who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners.

Kentucky Downs

One of only 37 foals born from the last crop from the great turf stallion English Channel, Correto  paid homage to her late sire Sept. 1 with a convincing win over the hills of Kentucky Downs. The promising 2-year-old filly is owned and bred by Calumet Farm, where English Channel stood before his untimely death in 2021.

Correto's pedigree, a proven formula exemplified by the exploits of her multiple graded stakes-winning sibling Spooky Channel, combines the two most prolific sires of North American turf horses in the last 20 years. Her dam, Spooky Kitten, is the daughter of six-time leading turf stallion Kitten's Joy.

Spooky Kitten, twice-placed in Canadian classics for Ken and Sarah Ramsey, has produced four winners, led by Spooky Channel. The rags-to-riches gelding sold for only $10,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Sale and broke his maiden for a $30,000 tag at Turf Paradise. Persevering through the years, Spooky Channel found his way to graded stakes company in his 5-year-old season, capturing the 2020 W.L. McKnight Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park. A two-turn specialist on the lawn, he would add four more stakes wins to his resume over the next two years, highlighted by a victory in the 2023 Muniz Memorial Classic Stakes (G2T) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Spooky Channel retired to Old Friends Farm in Kentucky later that year with a final bank account of $1,380,142.

Fair Hill-based Graham Motion was named the trainer of Correto. Motion, unfazed by the lengthy ship or challenging European-style turf course, would debut Correto against 11 other 2-year-old fillies in a seven-furlong maiden special weight. Correto, the image of her accomplished older sibling with her white-splashed face and flaming crimson coat, wouldn't let Motion down in her debut.

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Tracking the front-runners two-wide down the backstretch under jockey Jorge Ruiz, the filly handled the daunting slopes and turns of the Franklin, Ky., track with ease, quickening powerfully through the uphill stretch to the wire. Correto kicked clear by 1 3/4 lengths and stopped the timer in 1:23.24.

 









BloodHorse Maiden Watch
Notable 2-year-old maiden winners for the week of Aug.26-Aug.Sept.1
Date Track Race Horse Sire Dam Start Maiden Watch Eligibility Criteria
8/27 PID 4 Tessitura Medaglia d'Oro Octave 1 Dam is a G1SW
8/29 KD 11 Clock Tower Not This Time Hot Stones 3 Dam is a G3SW
8/31 DEL 4 Nomoretanlines Global Campaign Mary Delaney 1 Half Sibling to G3SW Dr Post; Dam is a G2SW
8/31 SAR 2 Early Adopter Lope de Vega Silk Sari 1 Dam is a G2SW
8/31 WO 3 Pop Idol Maclean's Music Unspurned 3 Dam is a G3SW
9/1 DMR 1 Bullard Gun Runner Reve d'Amour 1 $675K Yearling
9/1 KD 2 Correto English Channel Spooky Kitten 1 Full Sibling to G2SW Spooky Channel
9/1 SAR 2 Opulent Restraint Dubawi Significant Form 2 Dam is a G2SW
9/1 SAR 7 Quickick McKinzie Graeme Six 2 $550k Yearling; Half to G3SWs Cali Star, Delightful Joy; Dam is a G3SW