by Jeff Apel

Multiple Grade 1 winner English Channel seized command inside the eighth pole and edged away in the closing strides for a 1 1/4-length victory in a $57,500 allowance race on Thursday at Gulfstream Park.

The five-year-old Smart Strike horse set a course record for 1 1/8 miles, going the distance in 1:44.51 over firm turf.

Making his first start since finishing third, 2 3/4 lengths behind Red Rocks (Ire) in the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) on November 4 at Churchill Downs, English Channel gamely prevailed as the 3-to-10 favorite.

Stalking pacesetter Mending Fences in third through a quarter-mile, English Channel and jockey John Velazquez moved up to second through a half-mile and closed within a head of the leader in early stretch. The five-year-old Smart Strike horse powered past Mending Fences approaching midstretch for the clear win.

Sabre Baby finished third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Mending Fences.

Three-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher considered running English Channel in the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) on Saturday but did not want to have the chestnut horse make his seasonal debut in a 1 3/8-mile turf race.

James Scatuorchio’s English Channel could make his next start in one of two $5-million races on the Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) undercard on March 31 at Nad al Sheba racecourse—the Dubai Duty Free (UAE-G1), an about 1 1/8-mile turf race, or the Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-G1), a 1 1/2-mile turf race.

An Eclipse Award finalist as champion turf male, English Channel earned three of his four wins last season in Grade 1 races—the 2006 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, United Nations, and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Stakes.

English Channel earned his tenth win in 17 starts over four seasons and increased his earnings to $2,709,028. Bred in Kentucky, the chestnut horse is out of the Theatrical (Ire) mare Belva.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor