NEWS
English Channel named champion turf male
Posted: Monday, January 21, 2008 10:24 PM
2007 CHAMPION MALE TURF HORSE ENGLISH CHANNEL
Bill Denver/Equi-Photo
The third time proved to be the charm for English Channel.
The six-year-old Smart Strike horse finished fifth in the 2005 John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) and a troubled third in the ’06 renewal of North America’s richest turf race.
But 2007 proved to be the year for English Channel, who capped his third consecutive four-win season with an emphatic seven-length victory in the Turf at Monmouth Park en route to champion turf male honors over finalists Kip Deville and After Market.
“He was a model of consistency to run in three Breeders’ Cups in a row and just miss winning three [Joe] Hirsch Turf Classic [Invitational Stakes (G1)] in a row,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, who also trained 2007 champions Rags to Riches and Lawyer Ron. “We loved having him in the barn because it’s so hard to find a horse with that kind of consistency.”
Pletcher trained English Channel for Jim Scatuorchio, a New Jersey resident who reveled in his horse’s Breeders’ Cup victory at the track, which is about five miles from his Rumson home.
“I don’t know if you can script it any better,” Scatuorchio said. “That’s the stuff you dream about. When we came back this year knowing the race was going to be at Monmouth, we always had in the back of our mind how excited we would be to get him to that race.”
In addition to the Turf and the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, English Channel also won the United Nations Stakes (G1) during his championship season.
